Man, you're 100% correct about NOT leaving an inground pool empty. If you have heavy rains or a high water table it can destroy the bottom or even worse, undermine the walls and collapse the pool. I'm a pool professional and have been installing liners for over 35 years and have seen many pools destroyed by customers who drained them. Foam seems like a good thing but actually makes the liner more susceptible to holes and can shift, sometimes it'll even float up to the top of the wall. I only recommend it on pools where the walls are in bad shape and something could poke the liner from the back or in areas where there's no chance of it shifting due to ground water.
Thanks for posting this. I have a much worse situation but I am making my way through it. Each video I watch I learn something new. My pool is 50 years old and has WOODEN walls. Yes, you read that right. They rotted out but they lasted 50 years which is great. We were swimming last year up until I closed it up but this spring was the end. I definitely waited to long to bite the bullet and replace the liner. It is good advice not to wait. Not sure yet if I will do the liner myself. 60% no right now.
Just did my 16×32 in ground. I also had bad vermiculite areas. I had a lot of patching to do. Mine sat empty for a week and we got a heavy rain on it. The vermiculite was crumbling in the rain. I agree with you. Get it done quickly and get the water in to hold the walls in place with water pressure. My wife and I installed our liner and I thought it was a pretty easy job. The worst was patching vermiculite.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and story. I had the same problems that you had with my inground liner needing to be replace. I thought long and hard and weighed the pros and cons about replacing the liner myself, or hiring a professional do it for me. I opted to do both. I pulled my liner out myself, along with fixing/sanding all of the rust issues along the walls, seems, and around light. Sanding then painting all spots with rust oleum stop rust. I also taped all of the seams, corners, with heavy duty Gorilla duct tape. This would leave the toweling the vermiculite, to be done by the professional along with installing the liner. By doing as much of the prep work as I could myself, and knowing where to stop was key. I found to be the best, and the installers appreciated some of the work was taken off of them.... Kurt Estilow
thanks for your thoughts but I recently replaced my in ground liner 12x24 ft by3 to 6ft deep I installed the entire pool myself problem free I to had horrible slopes and bottom damage I trawled on a finishing concrete to fill the major holes and layed a hardy backer on slopes and bottom I then covered the slopes and bottom with a heavy duty ice and water roofing material felt facing up then foamed the walls after removing rust and repainting I laid out the liner and went to work on the beaded seem it came out perfect don't be scared to roll up your sleeves and get your feet wet and save yourself a lot of benjermans
Thanks for the tips. I am putting in a new pool, and am considering a vinyl pool, vs. gunite or fiberglass. I had a 21' above ground for 15 years, and still called a pro to do the replacement liner install. Im not afraid of liner pools. I have a sloped lot, bad soil, so liner pool is a good option. 20K more for a gunite, that scares me worse than what you had to go through.
Wow. That was really good information. I wish I could have seen you putting the actual lining. My liner is old and found a small leak last year. I was able to glue it but later another hole and never could locate where it was actually leaking. Anyway, now I have a pool 1/2 full and just don't know what to do. Thinking about doing myself with some friends but a lot know and a lot of things that could happen. Its so expensive to have a professional to come out. It may just be better to fill it. It was good while it lasted but thanks for sharing
This is my life right now. Took old water out of inground pool (it was beyond swamp water because it sat stagnant for a year - I was away) cleaned it-took me 3 days. I ordered my water and didn't see how the bottom had shifted (ground water under my liner)....started filling it....and on second load of water truck.....whole side popped off.....I was crushed. Wasted $400 in water. Now, I have to replace the liner, probably resurface underneath the liner and pay a professional to do this. My quote $2400 for install.....add $1900 for new liner and $900 for water (40,000 litres pool). Going to come in at just about $5000.
went through the exact same thing . bought a foreclosed house pool was trashed got it useable and limped it along the first summer then the next spring decided to do the liner and had problem after problem. I wished the day I closed on the house I would have called a professional I would have been money and time ahead. in the end I had to not only get a guy to fix the damage to the pool the leaks in the old liner caused he had to fix the mess I caused also. just too many little tricks to know like the corner bead and the fill time you mentioned are only a few .
how deep was this pool a bit of advice here if you have a 12ft deep pool the liner will be more of a headache i have seen pictures of those pools like that that hame more damage than you did ps im not an expert but i have heard horror stories about 12ft deep pools that use liners
You don't need a water truck. Its better to fill slow with garden hose so the liner stretches slowly. Using a truck to fill quickly on a liner is not a safe way. Too quick. And if temp is wrong while filling very fast the liner will pop out the track. I knew while watching this video this guy was not going to do this himself. I was waiting for the ""I called the pros to help me out" LINE.
Completely not true. It makes no difference how fast the pool fills. Slow or fast makes no difference unless the pool has water table issue. A liner vacuum holds the liner tight before an ounce of water touches it. That is when wrinkles can be worked out . When you have ground water coming in you have to fill the pool as quick as possible to prevent the liner from floating. We use water trucks all the time to fill pools and set liners to prevent floating. Also people on Wells don't have the water filling capability. I have owned a swimming pool business for 15 years.
I measured the pool and ordered a new liner on line. I removed the old liner. Then I repaired any damage under the liner. Then I had professionals finish the job.
So you started the project if I heard correctly. Then you hired a professional to finish it off. Now your telling the story as if you new what your talking about. One you don't and a different video would probably suit you.
Did you listen to the video at all? He was telling about the mistakes he made. Does that sound like he thought he knew what he was doing? Your negative comment was inappropriate and you should apologize.
Man, you're 100% correct about NOT leaving an inground pool empty. If you have heavy rains or a high water table it can destroy the bottom or even worse, undermine the walls and collapse the pool. I'm a pool professional and have been installing liners for over 35 years and have seen many pools destroyed by customers who drained them. Foam seems like a good thing but actually makes the liner more susceptible to holes and can shift, sometimes it'll even float up to the top of the wall. I only recommend it on pools where the walls are in bad shape and something could poke the liner from the back or in areas where there's no chance of it shifting due to ground water.
Thanks for posting this. I have a much worse situation but I am making my way through it. Each video I watch I learn something new. My pool is 50 years old and has WOODEN walls. Yes, you read that right. They rotted out but they lasted 50 years which is great. We were swimming last year up until I closed it up but this spring was the end. I definitely waited to long to bite the bullet and replace the liner. It is good advice not to wait. Not sure yet if I will do the liner myself. 60% no right now.
Just did my 16×32 in ground. I also had bad vermiculite areas. I had a lot of patching to do. Mine sat empty for a week and we got a heavy rain on it. The vermiculite was crumbling in the rain. I agree with you. Get it done quickly and get the water in to hold the walls in place with water pressure. My wife and I installed our liner and I thought it was a pretty easy job. The worst was patching vermiculite.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and story. I had the same problems that you had with my inground liner needing to be replace. I thought long and hard and weighed the pros and cons about replacing the liner myself, or hiring a professional do it for me. I opted to do both.
I pulled my liner out myself, along with fixing/sanding all of the rust issues along the walls, seems, and around light. Sanding then painting all spots with rust oleum stop rust. I also taped all of the seams, corners, with heavy duty Gorilla duct tape. This would leave the toweling the vermiculite, to be done by the professional along with installing the liner.
By doing as much of the prep work as I could myself, and knowing where to stop was key. I found to be the best, and the installers appreciated some of the work was taken off of them.... Kurt Estilow
thanks for your thoughts but I recently replaced my in ground liner 12x24 ft by3 to 6ft deep I installed the entire pool myself problem free I to had horrible slopes and bottom damage I trawled on a finishing concrete to fill the major holes and layed a hardy backer on slopes and bottom I then covered the slopes and bottom with a heavy duty ice and water roofing material felt facing up then foamed the walls after removing rust and repainting I laid out the liner and went to work on the beaded seem it came out perfect don't be scared to roll up your sleeves and get your feet wet and save yourself a lot of benjermans
Thanks for sharing your experience. I only wish there were pictures of the process itself.
Thanks for the tips. I am putting in a new pool, and am considering a vinyl pool, vs. gunite or fiberglass. I had a 21' above ground for 15 years, and still called a pro to do the replacement liner install. Im not afraid of liner pools. I have a sloped lot, bad soil, so liner pool is a good option. 20K more for a gunite, that scares me worse than what you had to go through.
Wow. That was really good information. I wish I could have seen you putting the actual lining. My liner is old and found a small leak last year. I was able to glue it but later another hole and never could locate where it was actually leaking. Anyway, now I have a pool 1/2 full and just don't know what to do. Thinking about doing myself with some friends but a lot know and a lot of things that could happen. Its so expensive to have a professional to come out. It may just be better to fill it. It was good while it lasted but thanks for sharing
This is my life right now. Took old water out of inground pool (it was beyond swamp water because it sat stagnant for a year - I was away) cleaned it-took me 3 days. I ordered my water and didn't see how the bottom had shifted (ground water under my liner)....started filling it....and on second load of water truck.....whole side popped off.....I was crushed. Wasted $400 in water. Now, I have to replace the liner, probably resurface underneath the liner and pay a professional to do this. My quote $2400 for install.....add $1900 for new liner and $900 for water (40,000 litres pool). Going to come in at just about $5000.
went through the exact same thing . bought a foreclosed house pool was trashed got it useable and limped it along the first summer then the next spring decided to do the liner and had problem after problem. I wished the day I closed on the house I would have called a professional I would have been money and time ahead. in the end I had to not only get a guy to fix the damage to the pool the leaks in the old liner caused he had to fix the mess I caused also. just too many little tricks to know like the corner bead and the fill time you mentioned are only a few .
How does one find a professional or experienced person to help? I found one on craigslist but thought $80 an hour was too much. Any thoughts?
how deep was this pool
a bit of advice here if you have a 12ft deep pool the liner will be more of a headache i have seen pictures of those pools like that that hame more damage than you did ps im not an expert but i have heard horror stories about 12ft deep pools that use liners
Great Video! Thanks!
Yes, I learned a great deal and I saved about three thousand.
its about an hour job to put the liner in under normal conditions
kappstr we can't install liner sir......
please suggestion to me
Best Regard
Tell us how you measure a liner dammit!
So, was it worth doing it yourself? What was your savings?
You don't need a water truck. Its better to fill slow with garden hose so the liner stretches slowly. Using a truck to fill quickly on a liner is not a safe way. Too quick. And if temp is wrong while filling very fast the liner will pop out the track. I knew while watching this video this guy was not going to do this himself. I was waiting for the ""I called the pros to help me out" LINE.
I agree.. garden hose it's a lot better and not that expensive like a water truck..
Much better to use garden hose, allows it to slowly fill in and you can remover wrinkles as it fills up.
might depend on your weather maybe? He was trying to beat the rain.
Completely not true. It makes no difference how fast the pool fills. Slow or fast makes no difference unless the pool has water table issue. A liner vacuum holds the liner tight before an ounce of water touches it. That is when wrinkles can be worked out . When you have ground water coming in you have to fill the pool as quick as possible to prevent the liner from floating. We use water trucks all the time to fill pools and set liners to prevent floating. Also people on Wells don't have the water filling capability. I have owned a swimming pool business for 15 years.
So basically you laid the liner in the hole, then you paid professionals to do the rest
I measured the pool and ordered a new liner on line. I removed the old liner. Then I repaired any damage under the liner. Then I had professionals finish the job.
I can buy an entire pool kit of 14x24 for 3,000. Wtf
THX GREAT
Sam Smith
So you started the project if I heard correctly. Then you hired a professional to finish it off. Now your telling the story as if you new what your talking about. One you don't and a different video would probably suit you.
Did you listen to the video at all? He was telling about the mistakes he made. Does that sound like he thought he knew what he was doing? Your negative comment was inappropriate and you should apologize.