| We had our 14 yr old vinyl liner replaced on our 20 x 40 full width metal steps and vermiculite bottom pool. New liner is pulling out in 5 areas, the top step corners are pouchy (the original liner pouched on top step corners also), and the bottom looks like the surface of the moon at night with the light on! We were told that it is normal for the liner to come out of the track at first, that the bottom was always pitted from the beginning and now we just see it more with new liner and that the top step can’t fit well because only an inch of water is on that step. That sure isn’t what we were told to expect before the replacement went in! We don’t think the bottom was that rough with the first liner. Are we expecting too much? Thanks! |
You have excellent questions, which I may use as FAQ’s on our liner section in our website…
It is true that if a new liner is put over an existing hardbottom, depending on the color chosen, you may notice the bottom much more or less than you did before. I’ve also found that when you are used to things (like your old liner) you stop noticing details, that are much more apparent when you change something out in your pool. That said, when we do liner replacements, we will clean the bottom and rinse it down, and patch any areas that are crumbling or have deteriorated over the years. Short of doing a new bottom typically the old is cleaned and new liner put on top of it.
The liner can come out of the track for a couple of reasons. When a new liner is put in, a nice sunny day will allow it to stretch into place and seat well. If the installation is done on a colder day, or if the new liner has any excess material and doesn’t have to stretch as much, the liner may pop out and need to be re-seated. If your old liner had issues coming out of the track, we usually address “coping track fatigue” in extreme cases we suggest a new track with the install of the new liner. Other times we use the pool guy trick of pennies in the track to keep the liner in place. This is usually decided by the homeowner, and what the budget they are working with at the time may be. We tend to offer “re-track” service at no charge for 1-2 years after the install of a new liner for just this reason, and after that will charge our typical service charge fee if we need to put a liner back in the track.
At the steps, if you have a vinyl covered step we will often use a rod pocket on the liner which we can slide a piece of rebar into and bolt to the steps to ensure they move as little as possible. I’m not sure how your steps were made, this may have been possible, or they may have used a clip system (depending on how the pool was built, and how the new liner was made). If we close down a pool that has a covered step that seems to shift if there is not water left on it sometimes we’ll use sand bags to hold it in place over the winter. The only challenge with it not seating and lowering the water level is that liner can shift and shrink out of place if left there for longer periods of time.
Ultimately I think you are noticing things differently than you had before. (Feel free to send photos if you’d like me to take a look). It may just be the nature of the new liner and a few things methods that your liner replacement company did (without explaining) that make you question things. Nothing you’ve explained sounds super out of the ordinary.