steel vs polymer walls ?

[DaveWisconsin]

One of the great frustrations in researching pools, is that you hear lots of bad advice. I am told that even the best galvanized walls will eventually rust, especially if they are scratched. Also considering that chlorine is corrosive, and that the resulting pits & surface irregularities can be hard on a liner,.....and I am leaning toward polymer. I have also heard that polymer is harder to set up. Any help from the pros on this issue?

[us7sail]

I am not a pro but am in the process of putting in a polymer walled pool Things seemed to go well. The panels were light. Everything fit well. I will let you know in 10 years. Pool has water in it, am just waiting on my electrical inspection to start the pump. Purchased the pool from poolwarehouse.com. They were pretty goood to deal with and matched any price I compared to. Chris

[goosegunner]

Dave,

I live in Wisconsin and did a poly wall 5 years ago and 2 of my cousins have done the same brand. If you have any questions send me an email.


gg

[Cire67]

Chris,

Interested in your inpool steps. A standard set of fiberglass pool steps is the one of the biggest drawback IMHO to a vinyl pool. The inpool steps look so much better. I am considering a DIY pool. Did poolwarehouse assist you with steps? I found an article on the internet that detailed some of the construction details. Post a picture if you can.

Eric

[hsdancer]

Our polymer walls fit fine. We chose them because they wouldn't rust. Jo

[Madty]

I used steel- they tend to move if installation is a little off without cracking- polymore will crack. Both are fine- don't hear much cracking or rusting.....

[us7sail]

I am going out of town this weekend but will post pictures as soon as i get back. It really gives a custom look to the pool to have the inside steps. I put up the walls and poured the collar. I then had a mason build me the desired steps out of concrete blocks and foamed over with 1/4 inch to protect the liner. The liner was custom made to measure. With my kit they bought the steps back. i put the credit toward the up charge of the custom liner. Increased the cost of the kit by about 200.00. Block and labor was about 400.00. Well worth it to avoid the white steps I think. When I get the cantilever coping/pavers in it should be hard to tell its vinyl.

[JKashJ]

Just checking to see how that step install went and how the experience with Pool Warehouse was. We've put a deposit down on a 20x42 Mirage freeform polymer wall pool with them and we're looking at hiring an out of town contractor to install it for us.

I'm interested in how you handled the concrete steps and if you hit any snags with the install itself. Our house is still under construction and we will be dried in by next week. We're looking to install our pool in October.

Kash

[georgiapoollover]

WE chose a steel wall pool by Kafko. This is steel wall even with all the curves.

[us7sail]

Jkashk,

Every thing went pretty smooth with the step building process. Mason knew what he was doing. They were perfect. Couple little wrinkles at the stepswhen we laid the liner, but father in law who used to build pools said that is hard to avoid on inpool steps especially for a newbee. Pool warehouse was very good to deal with . Chris

[JKashJ]

Chris,

Thanks for the insight. We're meeting with a landscape architect this afternoon to get some ideas on where best to put and angle the pool, so we're getting close to having our kit shipped.

Kash