Rough/Rocky/jagged surfaces under brand new vinyl liner (brand new pool)

[grue0051]

Question - how acceptable is it to have some degree of rocky/rough/borderline-jagged finish under your (brand new) vinyl pool liner? Pool is brand new too!

...my pool got (mostly) installed late last year and we only finally opened it up today (we are in MN). Upon doing the usual moving around in the pool, feeling out the floor, etc, I have come to find that there are several/numerous spots where you can feel a very rough spot underneath it. I assume the vermiculite didn’t get smoothed very well, and/or they laid the liner over some debris.

I don’t think I’m being overly picky — There are some spots where you just feel a few smaller pebbles/grit, and this I can tolerate / seems normal, BUT then there are also several places (notably where wall and floor run together) where it is much more than just a few smooth bumps and pebbles/grit.....I seem to have some Seriously bumpy spots, ridges, etc that feel borderline sharp. Beyond being unpleasant to touch, my worry is it seems much more likely that the liner would get ripped in these areas. I still owe the PB 20% of job cost, since things weren’t yet deemed ‘final’.

What do I do here? Is this normal? Will it haunt me in the future? Do I make them drain the pool, pull out the liner, and grind it smoother and make sure they get the rubbish out?

 

[jamjam]

You could ask your PB.

If he says it is normal ask him if he is willing to guarantee the liner in that spot for X years. If he says no, then ask him if he is worried about abnormal wear and tear in that spot. He is either confident it’s not an issue or he is not. If he is not he should fix the pool to deliver it in the type of shape he is confident over. Vermiculite has a low compression rating, so I suspect high spots should compress without stressing the liner. If it is debris that is more worrisome. Do you have progress pics that you can look at to see if you can spot anything prior to the liner installation?

 

[grue0051]

Thanks. The day the liner went in they were out there doing a lot of work to grind the vermiculite down in certain spots, etc (soil is extremely sandy and vermiculite wasn’t perfect).....I stayed out of their way and didn’t get a progress pic. Looked like they were doing the right things to whip it into shape

 

[duckcmmndr]

I did my liner at the end of last summer and I spent a couple of hours going around and smoothing out any rough spots and cleaning. I swept the entire thing down into the hopper and then vacuumed up all the loose stuff I swept down there. Then I used a blower and did the same thing again, blowing down into the hopper. I bet I got a 1/4 cup of little nuggets of vermiculite chunks that I missed with the broom.

I would be moderately concerned if I were you. I feel like over time with people stepping on those spots...it will eventually wear through. I might be wrong, but I think the installer should have been able to see those spots when the vacuum was pulled on the liner before it was cut and water was in...but maybe not.

The problem now is that you can't just take the liner out and remove the chunks and put it back in. Since the holes are cut for all the fittings/lights, you would have to put a new liner in.