Replacing my first liner

[drharris]

Hopefully this was just a liner leak that went up underneath the liner before you removed it. But if this is groundwater intrusion, you could be in for a crazy headache. I would definitely drill a "temporary well" and pump out any groundwater at the level of your deep end. Then, you could patch up any of the concrete and level things out well before installing the new liner.

 

[duanebe]

Back to your original question... and some comments on your plan to "re-do" the bottom.

Since you have already ordered your new liner, presumably to the specs that the original owner provided, you need to be careful about changing the dimensions of the pool at all because the liner is measured to fit exactly into the original size shell. If you, or your contractor does anything to "fix" the concrete, it needs to be done without building up the thickness of that concrete, otherwise your liner will be too big for the shell. You should limit any smoothing or patches to just filling in the holes and blending them to the original floor. Overall, it doesn't look too bad to me... the concrete bottom is not structural at all... it only needs to provide a smooth surface for the liner to rest against. There won't be any reinforcing steel or rebar in there.

Once you get the bottom all smoothed out, vacuum it all out very carefully... you need to remove every little spec of dirt. Then, vacuum it all out again to get the stuff you didn't realize you had missed!

Next you can start putting the liner in the track... it should come with some instructions on how to unfold it, which end to start from, and it might have some arrows that show exactly where the "break" is between the shallow end floor and the beginning of the slope towards the deep end. The closer it is to the right position when you start, the easier the job will be overall. Start working the liner into the track all around the pool, but before you push that last bit of liner into the track, you want to put a vacuum cleaner hose behind the liner...

You will need a fairly strong vacuum cleaner that's going to run for a long time (I rented one to save the wear and tear on my own shop vac)... in my build thread above, you can see in the deep end wall, close to where the diving board would be... I have a vacuum cleaner hose in behind the liner, down almost to the bottom of the steel wall. This creates a suction behind the liner and will slowly pull the liner tight against the walls and the floor. If you have taped all the seams in your walls well, it will pull the liner in almost perfectly tight... this lets you get the wrinkles out before the water goes in. (ONce the water is in, you can't remove any wrinkles in the liner). If you have a wrinkle, turn the vacuum off, work out the wrinkles, turn the vacuum back on and check again. Repeat as many times as necessary to get all the wrinkles out.

Once you are satisfied that the liner is held in perfectly to the pool shell where it needs to be, and there are NO wrinkles, start adding water. Leave the vacuum cleaner running until the water is well into the shallow end of the pool. My vacuum ran for a couple of days non-stop while I trucked my own water.

After the pool is filled, you can cut the liner for the skimmer, drains, and returns.

Hope that helps! Not a lot of vinyl liner pools on here, but they are very common here in Eastern Canada.

 

[Elementalwindx]

Thanks so much guys. I managed to track down the contact info for the previous home owner, and he actually did what you did duanebe (but not as nice) and we have a large pipe just like yours going to the deep end of our pool (we've been wondering for 2 years what that was there for), but he doesn't have a permanent sump pump hooked up in it. He has a sump pump attached to a longer 1 1/2" black pipe he just sticks down in there and pumps out the water whenever. No idea how often or whatever but it's how he does it.

So I've taken that sump pump and stuck it down there in that black pipe and it's sucking out a lot of water but I can't tell so far if the deep end water is decreasing. The most I've seen the water increase to so far (without any pumps running) is maybe 2ft from the deepest point of the pool and then it seems to stop.

He also told me the whole bottom is Vermiculite, so I guess I'll buy some bags of the stuff (no idea how many, your guess?), a trowel, drill mixer, knee pads, and use some of these many old chlorine buckets I have laying around and get down and dirty with this. Let's say your advice is inspiring me. Definitely love your write up duanebe. BTW I've owned a IT company for over 10 years. Use to program for over 10 years too haha.



Any advice on dealing with the thick algae on the surfaces?

 

[duanebe]

Thanks so much guys. I managed to track down the contact info for the previous home owner, and he actually did what you did duanebe (but not as nice) and we have a large pipe just like yours going to the deep end of our pool (we've been wondering for 2 years what that was there for), but he doesn't have a permanent sump pump hooked up in it. He has a sump pump attached to a longer 1 1/2" black pipe he just sticks down in there and pumps out the water whenever. No idea how often or whatever but it's how he does it.

So I've taken that sump pump and stuck it down there in that black pipe and it's sucking out a lot of water but I can't tell so far if the deep end water is decreasing. The most I've seen the water increase to so far (without any pumps running) is maybe 2ft from the deepest point of the pool and then it seems to stop.

He also told me the whole bottom is Vermiculite, so I guess I'll buy some bags of the stuff (no idea how many, your guess?), a trowel, drill mixer, knee pads, and use some of these many old chlorine buckets I have laying around and get down and dirty with this. Let's say your advice is inspiring me. Definitely love your write up duanebe. BTW I've owned a IT company for over 10 years. Use to program for over 10 years too haha.



Any advice on dealing with the thick algae on the surfaces?

That's awesome news about the existing sump... just keep draining that sump and let the water seep out of the pool on it's own... might take some time, but you're on the right track now!

How much vermiculite? Dunno... depends on how much you are patching, but I don't think you have a lot to fill in there... or how you are purchasing your vermiculite. I was buying huge bags (like 5' x 5' x5'... yes, that's 125 cubic feet per bag) and I used 8 bags to build my entire pool... I used a lot more than the "typical" amount, but I was filling in some significant "overdig".

You will find that the best way to mix it is to start with water in your wheelbarrow, add the portland cement powder next and mix it into a wet soupy mixture, then add the vermiculite last... it's something you will just need to get a feel for. It won't smooth out like concrete when you are doing patches, and it will take forever to set up hard. You could probably use some coarse sandpaper to smooth it out after it dries up...it's fairly soft stuff even after it sets up.

Algae... not sure what to tell you there... you could bleach it to kill it first, then try to brush it off with a stiff brush or wire brush. Just guessing here... no experience with Algae, and with TFP I may never experience Algae ;-)

Good luck with it! You're heading in the right direction now!

 

[Elementalwindx]

Just got done talking to the previous home owner again (spoke to his wife last time, and him this time). He was saying there is a spring right beside the slope of the pool and as soon as it rains it activates that spring. He said they put some kind of pipe with holes in it under the deep end of the pool which is 6" cement, with a bunch of other stuff under it eventually with the pipe and rock under all that. He said the pipe is setup like a 6. He said it can take days of pumping to get that area to run dry, especially if the ditch behind my house is as high in water as I described to him. He said it took 7 people to put in the last liner because they had to race the water. :/ ugh.


He also informed me that pvc pipe that was behind the liner was a compromised/dead pipe and was completely useless. blah. So much for that haha.

 

[duanebe]

The pipe that goes under the deep end is excellent news... that's how I built mine too.

In the future, if you have to drain your pool again, pump that sump out for several days (or even weeks) beforehand to eliminate as much groundwater as possible, and keep pumping it until the pool is refilled.

You actually have a pretty good setup there by the sounds of it... and now you understand what you have!