Purchasing Home with Vinyl Pool, Need Assistance

[falker]

Hi all! I am purchasing a home that is about 6 years old and it has an in ground pool with a vinyl liner and have a few questions. The realtor said he filled the pool with water and it lost about 50% of the water over a 2 month period so he assumes it has a leak.
I am wondering if it is possible that the water loss is simply from evaporation or is that significant enough to address with repairs?
My second question is that if it needs repairs or a new liner would it be smarter have leak detection and patching, to replace the liner or explore having a fiberglass coating installed?

Thanks in advance!

[PoolDoc]

Hi falker;

I'm not aware of a process to fiberglass a liner pool, nor can I imagine how such a process could be successful. Liners tend to last 5 - 10 years, so yours may well be at the end of its life.

It's not likely that your pool lost that much to evaporation, but it may be possible in a dry windy area. But, you can test using the bucket method.

1. Refill the pool at least 8" above its current level.
2. Mark the water line, possibly with masking tape on the liner or ideally with a magic marker on a SS ladder rail. (Can remove mm with rubbing alcohol later).
3. Suspend a partially filled and marked bucket of water IN the pool (so surface & temp conditions are similar)
4. Wait a week -- if your pool has gone down farther than the bucket, you have a leak.

Ben

[falker]

Do you have any idea what an average cost is for liner replacement?

[CarlD]

It TOTALLY depends on the size and shape, thickness and pattern of the liner, plus the install costs. The liner itself can range from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand..

Carl

[pigbat]

I've had 3 liner quotes this week, all within $200 of each other. Based on that, I'd say it's very geographic dependent. They will charge whatever the market will bear. In my area, I'm paying $3600. This includes tear out/haul away of the old liner, new white plastic (skimmer plates, jets, drain), new light ring and filling divots on the pool bottom. They charge an additional $300 to fill it from the fire hydrant.

[madwil]

Is the $300 a fee to the city/water company? If that's to the contractor, just ask the local fire dept to fill for you- a local fire dept may do it for free or for a smaller donation...

[pigbat]

Good suggestion. I'll check into it.

[madwil]

I know when I was in volunteer fire department, we would fill pools for like a $50 donation, but would have homeowner sign a waiver not responsible for pool liabilities...
county water department didn't mind, since we had to flush trucks periodically anyway!