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Writer's pictureLil Duckies Pool Company

Replacing Your Pool Liner in Tallahassee FL

It’s simpler than you might imagine to mount a vinyl pool liner – assuming you understood the method to use it. 

While any liner renovation project has the ability to go wrong, most Tallahassee vinyl pool liners install quickly and easily in order to encounter a problem that is unforeseen.

Replacing your own pool liner will save on cost of local installers and potentially thousands of dollars!

It’s quick to mount your own inner pool liner when you take it step by step but there are many facets that need extreme care.

Large Tallahassee pool companies will have multi-person liner construction teams who will install new liners every week.

It is actually a very practical plan and financially rewarding to take on a liner replacement project yourself, given that you have some basic construction skills and knowledge of basic hand and power tools.

Although there is no substitute for years of field experience, this guide will be extremely helpful to the effective completion of your goal if you are willing to change your liner one way or another.

Commonly Asked Questions

Is this guide going to help me mount a liner in a pool on my own?

Installing a new vinyl liner in a pool is something that can be taken up as a do-it-yourself project by an intrepid pool owner.

In terms of a DIY project, installing the liner is actually very easy, especially considering how much money you can save over the course of what can be considered a weekend of work in the backyard.

The potential for these savings is very appealing to some pool owners, but be warned that you could find yourself back in the place you are in now if you install the liner improperly – requiring a new liner.

This Tallahassee Liner Replacement guide will help to illustrate some of the main areas of concern you may find along the way if you have chosen to install your own liner. It will be a big help to make your DIY liner installation effective by getting this first hand account of frequently encountered problems, in chronological order.

How difficult is a pool liner to install?

Being a commercial vinyl pool liner installer in Tallahassee is a more complicated process than installing a single liner because you need to have experience outside of what it takes to install the liner itself, and are responsible for being cosmetically flawless for each liner installation.

It is more difficult to mount certain liners than others and this is a very important consideration that you need to remember.

You need to assess how difficult the installation of your liner would be and balance this against your technical abilities to decide if you should attempt to install the liner or employ a Tallahassee Pool professional to do it.

As a DIY liner replacement project, the vast majority of inground vinyl liner pools are fairly straight forward and can easily be taken on.

It takes years of experience in the trade to mount liners without any wrinkles or issues. Installing a single liner in your own pool is reasonably simple by contrast, for the expressed benefit of saving thousands of dollars.

Although there are issues you might find, of course, many of them are just cosmetics, such as liner wrinkles, and many pool owners will happily swap a thousand dollars for a few harmless wrinkles on the floor looking to save money.

You won’t have wrinkles if correctly measured and assembled, which is of course perfect, and this guide will help you accomplish this – but the most common issue will be if you were to encounter a problem installing your own liner, a wrinkle, or wrinkles.

What could make the installation of a liner more complex?

Remember that a simple pool liner would be symmetrical in shape, one constant depth throughout, and have one skimmer and one return faceplate to identify how difficult your liner will be to mount.

Symmetrical pools are usually simpler than asymmetrical and freeform forms, such as square, rectangular, oval, circular and octagon shapes.

A linear method and difficult to get wrong is calculating a symmetrical pool.

Measuring a freeform pool involves a more challenging calculation process with a higher potential for measurement value errors.

In addition, the more peripheral devices your pool has the more potential you will experience for issues.

For the least difficult to the most difficult to deal with the following are:

1) Supplementary water returns (2) A 2nd skimmer 3) A Single Main Pool drain 4) Build in-pool-wall lights 5) Multiple Floor drains 6) Steps built in-wall (shallow end) 7) Ladders built in-wall (deep end) 8) Challenging Water Features such as waterfalls

Materials Checklist For Vinyl Liner Replacement

Vinyl liner 30mil (20mil for aboveground pools) 25 divided wooden clothing pegs, spring removed (optional) Normal duct tape with 2 full rolls 1 can of WD-40 spray Fresh gasket & faceplate skimmer New Gaskets & Faceplates

If walls need repair, you may need:

Galvanized steel rust paint may 1 Galvanized steel primer may 1

If you need floor repairs, you will need:

Fine washed sand with washed sand Zonolite or Vermiculite Form 10 / portland cement type 1

Tools

Razorblade Knife Phillips screwdrivers (sizes #2 and #3) Screwdriver Tape measurer of 100′ +(2 for freeform pools) Shop vacuum (2 for big pools) or a liner vacuum

Step 1: Measure your Pool

To start the Tallahassee Pool liner replacement process, the first step you will need to take is to measure your pool for a fresh liner that will be produced and sent to you.

In the off season in Tallahassee FL this development process can take as little as one or two weeks or up to six to eight weeks or more during the spring and late summer seasons.

Measuring the liner includes following a pattern given by the business from which you order your liner.

Unique to the form of your pool, the liner measurement template will take into account the length, width, orientation and corner radius, as well as the profile of the slopes, floors, height and depth of the wall.

To get a liner that fits like a glove, precise measurements are important.

Many in-ground vinyl pools, with specific angles, have a geometric floor shape.

The pool corners, at the top of the wall, have a precise measurement of the radius.

And with both ends and both sides being the exact same length, most pools have square measurements.

Nevertheless! Many pools are designed only slightly askew, and end-up a few inches off from specification.

To make sure you order a liner that suits properly, accurately measure your pool, and double check your measurements.

The liner manufacturer you are using will address questions you have about how the liner measurement sheet they can provide for you will be used correctly.

All you need to do is tell them the shape of your pool, or send a photo that details the overall shape and dimensions of the corner so that they can decide the measurement sheet you need.

Some liners are made by hand and others use computer-controlled processes that enable the liner to be made with a set of input measurements.

To ensure that your liner is correctly calibrated, precisely follow the liner measurement sheet given by your supplier.

It is necessary to measure the pool correctly to provide a wrinkle-free installation.

As you simply measure and linear wall or floor surface, symmetrical pools, especially straight wall pools, are the easiest to measure.

Measuring any other pool shape would enable you to use two different tape measurers to use an A-B map, which is a method with far more space for error.

From a previous liner order, you might have measurements open, or you can possibly dig up the original specification sheet that shows the corners’ length, width, depth and radius.

Nevertheless! Most pools can differ from the original specifications, which can change slightly over a period of several years, so it is often recommended to fully re-measure the pool.

Vinyl Liner Measuring Equipment: You will need a rigid or flexible 50 ft measuring tape and a rigid 25 ft tape.

For measuring distances around the surface, a pool pole is used as a vertical rod.

A clip board and pencil for writing down the dimensions for the pool.

In order to weigh the pool, two people are required, and you don’t need to drain the pool, but the water should be clean, so you can clearly see the bottom.

Measurement Form: For an inflow pool liner, you will need a measurement form. 

These are fairly common, but it is better to use the type supplied by the dealer from which you intend to order the liner.

Follow the steps in the measurement form and ensure that all boxes are filled out and all questions answered. Don’t forget your contact details and name!

Simply use a rigid measuring tape to measure the depth of the shallow end (D), carefully measuring it from the bead or track to the flat surface.

Run a tight string (or flexible measuring tape) across the deep end to the edge of the hopper for the deep end depth (C) and use a pool pole or other long pole positioned in the hopper’s corner.

Measure the pole at the point where the string intersects and then subtract the distance to the liner track, or bead, from the ground.

You may also use two pool poles on larger pools at 90 degree angles to each other to help keep the vertical pole in place.

Keeping the pole at the level of a carpenter, as seen here, is typically not possible, as (V) is usually at least 4 ft. high.

To measure the pool length (E, F, G, H) with water still in the pool, secure the flexible measuring tape (type of reel) tightly to the pool length, then use the vertical pool poles to measure the length of each segment.

To make sure it looks upright, and isn’t angled, your helper can eyeball the pole.

Do not measure down the slope when measuring the slope from shallow to deep (F), but measure horizontally against a pole held vertically.

A plumb bob can also be used on a horizontal shaft, and the vertical string can be weighed.

Once you know 3 of the 4 steps, as long as (E+F+G+H = A), you can extrapolate the fourth.

Using a pool pole held vertically in the hopper corner to measure the width of the pool (I, J, K) and to measure horizontally from the liner track to the pole.

The measuring tape should be horizontal, but do not measure down the side-slope.

Turn sides and calculate the width of the side wall that is opposite.

As long as (I+J+K = B), you can then extrapolate the width of the hopper.

The K and I measurements are usually the same but don’t assume they can be different.

Pitfalls to avoid when Measuring:

Measure horizontally to a vertical pole when measuring F, H, I and K.

Do not measure down the slope.

When the calculation is done, verify that the measurements A and B add up to the sum of all measures of length and width.

Test the dimensions of A and B at the top of the wall and the bottom of the wall to make sure the walls do not lean.

Measure the depth at the top of the wall from the flat floor (not the top of any coated sand) to the bottom of the liner bead track.

Hold the vertical measuring pole straight, or on a horizontal pole, use a plumb bob.

Before you have the liner and materials packed, none of the work below should be completed.

How to use an A-B plot to calculate

At two points halfway down the long side of your pool, put a nail or stake into the ground precisely ten feet apart and at least three feet from the edge of the pool.

Now mark with chalk every two feet around the perimeter of your pool deck in straight wall sections and closer together in places where you need to follow the pool’s contour.

You’re playing a big game of connecting the dots with your pool and the marks you have are going to be the dots that bind.

With that in mind, make sure that there is a mark on every point of importance in the outline of the pool and a mark on each side within a few inches.

This will send more than enough data to the liner manufacturer to make your pool shape with computer software.

Make sure you also include marks on the plot that indicate what is happening on the bottom of the pool floor to the liner maker.

For example, on the plot where the shallow end break (slope) begins and the shallow end pad ends, you will have one point.

Where the deep end pad begins will be another mark.

They will be able to calculate the exact orientation, period and slope of the long slope in your pool from these two marks on your plot.

You would also need to include the side slopes and the back slope of the pool in your plot points.

Step 2: Choose Your New Liner

Choosing a new design or theme is one of the fun aspects of putting in a new Tallahassee pool liner.

Slightly more solar energy will consume darker colors.

In order to blend with neutral backyard colors, Tan and Gray tones have recently become common.

To help conceal dirt and mask wrinkles or imperfections, most designs have a mottled pattern.

I would always recommend using a thicker liner-28 or 30 mil, rather than a regular 20 mil pool liner, if you can afford it.

Warranty is another way for liner manufacturers to identify their products, but bear in mind that a true claim for warranty is uncommon for defects in materials or manufacturing.

Pool chemistry or Actions of God was responsible for 99 percent of liner failures.

Many warranties are not pro-rated, so a warranty of 25 years can have little value over time.

Seam or bead separation is usually protected by liner warranties, but may not compensate punctures or sun or chemical degradation.

Specifically, you are only protected by ground liner assurances for “material or workmanship defects.”

We also suggest buying wall foam and adhesive when you buy a pool liner.

Before you install the new liner, 1/8′′ thick wall foam is applied to the walls if your steel walls are rusty, or just to give a soft feel to your walls.

You’re going to be looking at it for several years! So Pick a pattern and style that you like.

Step 3: Prepare for the Liner install

Tips before the new liner installation

It is a wonderful DIY project to install a new vinyl liner, but care must be used to ensure that you do not miss anything after the liner has been installed that can cause problems.

If you add a new vinyl liner, for example, you must first make sure your coping is in good shape and will last for at least as long as the new liner will.

If you now install a new liner and the coping fails in a couple of years, you will probably need to replace both the liner and the coping again.

You cannot remove it for substantial repairs once a liner has been installed.

Prior to installing the liner, all plumbing, electrical, corrosion, coping and deck problems must be dealt with.

If you are not a pool professional, prior to a new liner installation, you can not find or remember areas of your pool that may need repair.

As well as a list of their suggestions on what the Tallahassee FL pool needs, consider inviting a few local Leon County Pool contractors to send you estimates of how much it will cost to repair your vinyl liner.

This will give you a better idea of your pool’s state and any work you can take care of before installing a new liner.

If you change your mind and plan to pay a specialist for this project instead of doing it yourself, you then have a head start as well.

The first steps are to safely drain the pool into the storm drain or far from the pool when you get ready to start, where it will not flow back under the pool.

To protect your local Leon County water quality the sanitizer level should be near zero, and the pH should be about 6-8, but it doesn’t need to be clean and clear.

Consider getting your pool quoted by a professional

At the very least, you ought to have a physical coping inspection as well as a plumbing system pressure test to ensure that your pool lasts as long as your new liner.

After you remove the liner, you may also call a nearby contractor to check the tub.

To ensure you do a quality job installing your own liner, a $100 service call will go a long way to ensuring that you still end up saving money.

Ideally, prior to installing the liner, you will have a pressure test done and then a visual inspection of the empty pool with the liner removed.

The pressure test, as minor leaks are normal in aged pools, is the most likely object to fail an inspection.

However a physical inspection is simple enough to conduct and effective enough to reliably assess whether the coping is in good condition in most situations.

The coping will be the next most likely possible concern.

Over a short period of time, the installation of your liner must happen.

There is a chance of making a swimming pool empty, so you want to keep your pool empty when installing your new liner for as short a time as possible.

Ideally, by cutting out the fittings and shutting off the liner vacuum on the third day you can begin the draining process on one day, prepare and hang the liner on the second day and finish the liner.

If you have a compact sand floor in your pool, this short timeframe is critically important to stick to.

Pool floors are concrete, vermiculite or sand, and even after you have removed the liner, it can be very hard to distinguish between them.

Storms and heavy rainfall can quickly wash out the slopes in your pool, so when the long-term outlook is good weather, schedule your project.

In a state of emergency, poly plastic will line the slopes of your pool to try to minimize water damage.

For optimal prospects for a good DIY project, plan ahead and be prepared to complete your project in three days or so.

If you have as many vinyl liner pools as you have a sump pit adjacent to the pool, you might want to continuously run the pump in the sump pit during the liner replacement project period.

If you’re familiar with this form of plumbing work, you can also pick up pressure test plugs from your local pool supply store and pressure test the pool yourself.

Pressure testing is fairly straightforward, but if you are not familiar with pressure testing, it can be potentially dangerous, so a professional may be a nice and reasonably low-cost alternative to pressure testing yourself.

If one is detected, much of the cost is to repair the leak, so paying for a pressure test is not normally a major expense.

Step 4: Remove the Liner

Research The Weather   Weather also plays an important role in the installation of the liner. Tallahassee can have a huge season of thunderstorms.

Storm-clouds-coming You want the temp to be in the 60s at least, and a sunny day makes it easier to add a liner.

Take a look at the weather, and avoid cloudy or rainy days. Being too hot, on the flip side, may also be a problem.

It appears to stretch out and extend the liner when the temperature is in the high 90s and the sun beats down on the liner, making it more difficult to get a wrinkle-free liner setup.

Gather Up the squad With two people, getting a third or fourth person on the job is helpful particularly when you pull the liner across the pool and lock the bead into the track, a vinyl liner installation is easily done with two people.

During spring break, or spread out over many weekends, planning your installation can help to get helpers.

Pay a reasonable compensation and you should have no trouble bringing together a small team.

Consider renting a small Sump Pump if the pool has extreme algae and large quantities of leaves and other debris.

Gas-powered waste pumps can flow through solids up to 1′′ in size.

Remove the main drain cover and use a sponge and bucket to get every last drop of water, and drain the pool entirely.

To get up to the last few gallons, you can also use a cover pump, or a wet/dry vac, or even old towels.

For now, set aside the drain cover and screws.

Wait for the pool to drain before you have it and a decent weather forecast ready to go.

If rainy weather and floods come in before you have a chance to refill the pool, leaving your pool empty for a very long time could damage the pool walls or floor.

Using a garden hose to spray down the walls and floor while you empty the tub.

In the next step, this little tip will make a big difference in how dirty and disgusting you get, especially if your pool is green and gross.

Please notice that ANY electrical equipment used around a pool must be protected by GFI electricity – no exception.

There is no good combination of pools and energy and the long slippery slopes are a disaster recipe.

When working with water, do not take any risks and be sure to consider electrical protection.

You must maintain approximately six inches to one foot of water in the shallow end with a vinyl liner pool to protect the deep end slopes from injury.

The stage at which you start draining the pool lower than this now has a high degree of danger to which it is exposed.

Tallahassee pool structures can be weakened by serious rain or water, so do not drain your pool lower than this until you are prepared to repair the liner. 

Since there is a waiting period from the moment you measure the pool until the time you can install the new liner, the pool could theoretically sit empty in the meantime for a few weeks.

For this purpose, measuring the pool for a liner with a foot or so of water in the shallow end is preferable.

This way, once you are ready to drain, prepare and install the new liner, the pool is safe.

When left dry, sand bottom pools are specifically vulnerable to damage from rain.

There are several ways of draining a pool in Tallahassee, but the process requires a variety of secret obstacles that can hamper your progress.

By the time you replace the liner, most Tallahassee pools have leaves and other organic material in them.

It might seem like an unnecessary exercise on the surface to remove the leaves and debris prior to draining, but removing all the leaves will make the draining process much simpler once you get down to the deep end hopper.

If the water is clean and clear as it should be, once your larger pump loses its prime, a standard small submersible pump will finish the job.

It’s important to make sure that with the larger pump you use you get as much water out until it loses prime.

It will be much harder to get it started and re-primed if the pump loses its prime early as it will need to draw the weight of the water up from the pool to get started.

For the drainage process, some water resistant rubber boots or hip-waders are a good idea.

This way, when there is a foot or less of water, you can get down into the pool and help the pump retain its prime.

The pump and the suction hose will quickly plug in leaves and debris.

If the accumulation of organic debris goes up as the amount of water in the pool decreases, you can need to clear the pump of debris a few times.

TIPS

You’re going to have to pump ALL the water out of the shower.

With a mop and bucket, a big sponge, a shop vac, or your cover pump, get the last bit.

Five to ten gallons of spilled water would not damage the pool surface, but do not drain the liner floor with inches of water left in the hopper.

Too close to the pool, discharge the pool water and it can weep into the pool, or place pressure on weak walls.

To safeguard the watershed, water should be balanced and low in sanitizer and algaecides. Green water’s all right!

A lot of water is 20,000+ gallons, make sure you’re not eroding or over saturating a hillside. Some areas have limits and laws for pool draining and discharge.

Check with your Leon County Gov Site.

Don’t flood a neighbor’s yard, garage or basement downhill!

Checking the weather, flood waters and high water tables for an empty pool can cause problems.

Step 5: Remove the Old Liner

The lining is broken into bits and rolled up for disposal.

 At the shallow end, start off on the floor and cut into long strips about four feet wide. 

You should stand it at the end after you roll up a piece of old liner and lean it on the pool wall to drain out any excess water before transportation. 

By cutting along the seams to break the liner into manageable sections, the process of cutting out the liner will begin. 

Near the slopes of the pool, be extremely careful, particularly because you can use a razor knife to cut up the liner. 

Stepping on the liner when cutting out along the slopes is not recommended. Ideally, you should raise the liner and step onto the concrete or sand floor below it, as this will give some extra traction. 

Great care must be taken because any algae or slime that grows under the liner may be concealed from view, but if you walk on a section like this under the liner, it is almost certainly too slippery to maintain your balance.

Cut the liner all the way around the tub, and under the pool move, with a razor knife at the base of the wall. 

Then cut vertically from the surface, in some spots across the tub, up through the top bead. 

The plastic track can be porous and can fracture if strained by carefully removing the liner from the track by raising up and outwards.

 Roll-up the pieces of the wall and remove them from the tub. 

For now, leave the vinyl lining portion of the floor in place and keep it in the pool until you are able to start on the floor. 

Wall return gaskets Gently detach the skimmer(s) faceplates, wall return(s), key drains, pool lighting, and pool stage parts with a large # 3 Philips screwdriver. 

You may still use a cordless drill, just make sure to use a major Phillips bit #3.

We typically use Zip bags for the screws to store the screws safely, so that not a one gets misplaced. 

If they are not damaged, the screws would not need replacement. 

However, except for the stage gasket, which is a very dense and durable rubber seal, removing the faceplates and gaskets is recommended. 

New faceplates and gaskets .

For your skimmer, key drain, pool light and wall returns, order the right gaskets (they vary from Manuf.). 

Two gaskets are used, one behind the liner and one on the liner’s top. 

Also recommended are new faceplates for the skimmer, drain and returns, as older plastic faceplates can warp and break, creating a weak seal that can seep and weep water.

You can plan to duct tape the wall joints, where the panels come together, when examining your walls. 

This, as seen from the liner, helps cover the seams. 

Silicone or other elastomeric sealant may fill in any separation or suspected leakage. 

At the top of the wall, check the liner track, and scrub it out with a hand cleaner or pool brush. 

Super Glue performs a fast fix whether you have any places that are cracked or damaged. 

Ask your supplier for a portion of liner track for incomplete pieces. 

Close-up photographs are useful, since there are many styles, to locate the right type of liner track. 

Inspect the wall surfaces that are connected by the faceplates-skimmer, returns, light and steps. 

This means that it has been leaking if you see rust. Using rough sandpaper, steel brush or wire wheel, scrub it up as best as you can.

Paint it with paint that is rust-tolerant, either Rust-O-leum or Krylon. 

Use small strips of duct tape after cleaning the surfaces to secure the skimmer, pool light, and main drain gasket, the one that goes under the liner (a second gasket is used on top of the liner). 

If you have an indoor pool light with a cord that extends into the wall, you will have to fully remove the light in order to add a new liner. 

Shut off the control first and open the junction box. The J-box is usually placed off the deck, directly behind the lights, or under the diving board in older pools. 

Duct tape a long piece of string to the wires after cutting the wire nuts and loosening the clamps. 

Pull the wire rope out into the tub, pushing until the light niche joins the loop. Break the string and duct tape it to the inside of the niche with your razor knife.

If it looks aged, yellowed or scratched or bent, make sure to order new pool light gaskets, and probably a new light ring as well. 

The SS screws may be reused as long as the smooth, aka stripped, Phillips heads are not worn. 

Phase 2: The Prep Floor 

We will start extracting the liner from the pool floor after you have finished the wall planning and you have tested the weather to make sure that you can continue from this stage to completion. 

Split it into long strips with your shaving knife, roll it up and take it out in pieces. 

Floors of Concrete or Vermiculite: 

Sweep the surface off with a broom and/or leaf blower. 

Palmetto Vermiculite for pool surfaces. 

To clear all of the small pebbles, grit and granules, use a dust pan, or wet/dry vac. 

Using a Concrete/Sand mix, a Vermiculite/Concrete mix or just simple Vermiculite combined with water to fill up some gaps. 

To stop water blowing into the tub, sweep the pool deck areas around the pool, and/or wet them off.

Tallahassee FL Pools with Sand Bottoms: 

Sand floors take a lot of preparation to plan for, and you have to work and maneuver around the pool very slowly. 

Wide plaster trowels would be required for you; stainless steel, rounded end form. Delete and cover any spoiled or odd-colored sand with fresh sand. 

Remove any minor windblown particles or pebbles. 

With new sand, low places can be filled, just be careful not to apply too much sand, otherwise you can lift the floor higher, which could make the new pool liner suit badly. 

Throw the floor effortlessly, beginning at the deep end and working out the shallow end of the way. 

Use the 1’x12″ boards to walk around, dig through the sand less than your shoes. 

Use the 1″x12″ boards to move around. 

It is possible to use wide 2-4’s to approximately screen flat regions, ending with the trowel. 

By pounding them down or scratching off high points, lower elevated areas fill up the low spots. 

As most patterned liners can mask small floor imperfections, it needn’t be perfectly flawless, but try to make it as level and even as you can.

Pay careful attention to where the floor crosses the wall. 

It can look strange if this region is wavy, and not equally flat. 

You can opt to trowel across the deep end of the pool, a 4-6′′ protective ledge where the wall meets the surface. 

As you go, calculate carefully from the track to the deck, all over the pool, to ensure that the depth of the pool suits the ordered height of the liner wall, uniformly around the pool. 

If the floor height (or depth) is not the same all over the edges and around the floor, folds or irregular stretching may occur.

Stage 3: The latest liner is installed. 

Give the pool floor a final check for something that may have blew up in the pool. 

If required, sweep the pool deck and keep the pool clean. 

Remove the main drain faceplate and replace the gasket by taping it in order to line up the gaps, so that it can not pass under the liner. 

Keep sand out of the main drain ring and cover screw holes with caution. 

The wall is prepped, the floor is primed, and now we can open the new pool liner package and follow the directions included. 

Check for deep end or shallow end tags and orient the liner while you plan to slowly drag it into the pool. 

Two more will take opposite sides of the liner and drag it across the pool to the deep end wall with at least 3 persons, one to keep the shallow end wall. 

Bend over and lock the corners onto the rails. 

As a shim, pennies or popsicle sticks may be handy to keep the liner in position as you pass it around to line it up to the corners of the tub.

If the corners or other markers are identified, continue around the pool, away from each other, and the liner appears to be hanging properly, lock the liner into the track. 

Bring some slack with you down the wall as you go, retaining a little stress. 

If it ends up marginally out of sync, it is not unusual to have to change the lining a few centimeters. 

Grab your free time and go over these next few moves slowly. 

Pick Up the Slack:

 Lie down next to the pool step section on the pool wall, then reach over the edge to catch the vinyl on the ground.

 On the other side of the staircase, the assistant will do the same. 

The goal is to remove the liner off the shallow end floor and move it towards the shallow end wall and take up the natural slack the liner is going to have towards the deep end. 

If it seems like you need it to help keep the liner from sliding into the deep end, you can position sandbags or water bags up against the shallow end wall or under the move part.

Lock in the Bead: In opposite directions, two people work, locking the liner bead onto the track. 

To eliminate small quantities of slack, start in the shallow end middle, and pull opposite each other, while holding the corners in position. 

For now, you can use a duct tape if you have a step segment in the shallow end to help hold the liner over the duration of the stairs. 

Continue all the way around the pool and snugly lock the liner into the track. Bending over the edge, do this from outside the water. 

You should use strips of Liner Lock, a rubber wedge that you push-in between the liner and the deck if the liner fit is either too tight or too loose on the rail. 

How does it hang? 

Take a peek to validate the “hang” of the liner after it is in order. 

The corners, while they would be very slack, should all be key to the real corners.

The material of the wall should hang directly down, and even though loose and wrinkled, any folds should run vertically.

If they run diagonally, you will need to subtly move the liner in the direction. 

The vinyl covering the floor can also be smooth and at the edges, where it hits the wall, take the floor off. 

By bending over the pool side and pulling on the liner, or using a push broom or pool brush to push them against the wall, floor wrinkles may be pushed out. 

Lay a 2-4 over the front of the steps if you have a phase segment, then duct tape the liner to it at the same height on the track. 

To mimic the weight of the water, small sandbags or water bags laid under the bottom step, on the liner, are beneficial. 

Install the 3 stripes along the front of the stairs, bottom and all sides where the liner is placed correctly. 

Squeeze the screws against the rubber gasket very firmly. 

Cut off the vinyl segment and walk out of the pool until all the screws are secure!

SET The Liner  To put up the liner, the next move is to mount up your Cyclone Blower Vac. 

Such vac/blowers can also be used for winterizing your own pool and blow out your plumbing pipes. 

A big, heavy duty shop-vac of at least 5 hp can also be used to set up the liner. 

What I mean by “Set the Liner” is this: we place a hose (or flat manifold shown here with the Cyclone blower) behind the liner, between the pool and the liner, and pump out all the air with a vacuum. 

We place a hose (or flat manifold shown here with the Cyclone blower) behind the liner. This firmly pushes the liner towards the side of the tub. 

On the end of the pool, set up the vac, in the center of a long hand. 

Race the extension cord to an outlet nearby. 

Attach a 4-6′ hose to the blower/vac suction outlet, and take a small portion of the liner bead out of the track by extending the hose behind the liner. 

A few feet, bring it back behind the liner, about a foot off the surface.

To seal up where the hose goes under the liner, and to seal up the skimmer lid or a light cord for the tub, use duct tape. 

If no air holes are plugged, the Cyclone will bring the liner close against the walls and floor in under a minute. 

To stop sucking air through the tubing, make sure all valves on the filter mechanism are closed. 

You would need to mount the faceplate ring and the lid at this stage, after the liner is set, if you have a main drain. 

Walk down to the deep end cautiously, using boards if you have a sand floor. 

Under the liner, find the screw holes, and insert the ring and fresh gasket. 

Using a #3 Phillips screwdriver, screw it down very firmly. 

Then, safely mount the primary drain cover. 

Turn the vac off and work the vinyl where there are wrinkles in the liner, trying to pull the wrinkles toward one wall or the other. 

With a push broom, pounding the lower wall or softly persuading wrinkles with the wood edge of a push broom works well.

Parts of the Step: There are many ways to seal the step. 

You can only use a lot of duct tape in certain situations, so you’ll need to spread something flat over the top of the steps for bigger steps, and duct tape it to the deck and to the lining, to be able to achieve a complete seal. 

A wide flat sign may be used, or a piece of cardboard. 

Any individuals cut a major portion of the old lining and spread it over the stairs, taping or weighing it down. 

Lumber, such as multiple 1-12″ boards laid over the top, can also be used. 

You can wonder “why not just put on the phase tracks and screws? 

After the liner has extended into place, that is achieved later. 

For the step part, don’t make any holes until the water level is up to the bottom point. 

You can see the liner magically suck itself close after just a few minutes as you cover up all of the air leaks. 

And now you can actually see if the liner works, if it reaches the edges, and whether any wrinkles are there.

You should use your hands to “massage” or stretch the wrinkles to work out wrinkles in a liner. 

Try to lie on the deck and lean over the side, take a handful of vinyl (you will have to briefly shut off the vacuum), and draw against the wall, and gently release the liner into place. 

You may also use a push broom or pool brush to softly push the vinyl away from the angle of the fold, or wrinkle, on a pole. 

It is also possible to use sand bags or water bags to keep back wrinkles before the pool fills. 

In certain circumstances, before you get it set without wrinkles, you can need to unset and reset the pool liner multiple times. 

You have to step on in some situations to focus on them later, as the last few wrinkles can be sorted out more quickly as the field is filled by a few layers of water.

4: Filling the pool: 

At this point, there are typically high-fives and maybe the sound of cheers.

 The pool is typically filled with a garden hose.

 Until the water level is around 6′′ off the surface, or only starting to cover the hose, the vac must continue working. 

Continue to fill and pop this area into the liner bead track as you cut the vacuum hose and duct tape. In 36-72 hours, most typical size pools will fill in from the hose(s). 

Step cautiously down to the deep end with only a few inches of water in the hopper rim, then placed on the main drain faceplate ring, top gasket and main drain cover.

 Under the liner, there is still one gasket, now a second drain gasket is put on top of the liner and then screwed to the main drain ring or faceplate. 

Make sure to tighten the screws firmly until you hear that the acrylic is going to creak. 

Then, using two stainless steel screws, use a razor knife to cut out the vinyl circle within the loop, and then add your main drain cover.

Wrinkles: Track the pool for wrinkles as it fills, or search the tiny ones that you saw earlier, to make sure they are spread out.

 When a few inches of water is on top of them, some wrinkles just simply flatten, and the weight of a few inches of water can be effective in smoothing out wrinkles on the surface, moving them against the wall, or spacing them out. 

It will be harder to get them out if there is so much water on top of a wrinkle, say more than a foot. 

You will also drive wrinkles into the floor if you have a sand bottom, if they are really small folds.

5: Steps, returns and skimmers for cut-in 

We don’t mount this in Tallahassee FL Pools until the pool is finished, so the liner is already extending into place. Buy new faceplates for your vinyl liner pool. 

Mount the faceplates and gaskets very firmly, using a proper size screwdriver, when the pool is complete. 

Make sure the gaskets are sturdy and the screws are secure to avoid any leaks. 

Cut out the vinyl inside the faceplate as the plate is re-installed, then flood the lines with spray. 

Now is the time to install the ring and new gasket, if you have a pool lamp, and re-install the light fixture into the niche. 

Securely reconnect the cord to the loop, and draw the cord back to the J-box through the conduit. 

From above, you can be able to hit it, hang upside down, or stand up in the deep end. 

Make sure it’s soft, or put on a wide, flat surface, if you need to stand on anything, so that you don’t ruin the new lining.

TALLAHASSEE FL POOL CLEANING, MAINTAINANCE AND REPAIR

800-549-4701

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