Bad Vinyl liner install?

[cooper77]

I just had my pool contractor finish an install of a new vinyl liner on my in ground pool today (was supposed to be done April 16th, whole other story to why it took so long). He had to come back on 4 different occasions to try to get 3 of the corners set into the track and after doing so I'm really not happy with the way it looks. I also have many wrinkles on and around my steps that he said he can do nothing about, the liner also has so much slack at the stair wall that I can almost pinch my fingers around it in the middle of the wall. I would love to post some pictures (words won't give you the best feel for my concerns) of all this to get some honest opinions of his work as I still have to pay off half the balance of what I own and my gut is telling me i shouldn't do that quite yet. He has admitted to filling the pool to fast and the "factory" measurements for my pool may be off because the pool is over 30 years old and has settled.

[Watermom]

Send some pics to poolforum@gmail.com.

Welcome to the Pool Forum.

[PoolDoc]

Your pictures:

[PoolDoc]

That's obviously not a well-fitting liner. On a new pool, that would be clearly substandard. On a redo of a 30 year old pool? I don't have the experience to know. I'll ask Waste to take a look.

[waste]

Cooper77, welcome to The Forum!

Thanks for the pics!! (they really help me 'see' what some of the issues might be)

Judging from the pics at the steps, the liner needed to be shifted at least an inch (probably all the way around the pool - I assume that the other side of the top stair is as tight as a drum). To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to fix this because the liner has already been cut in (the return/s and skimmer/s are locked in by their faceplates and the liner has been cut out of those areas)

It looks like the receiver in the corner that is shown twice isn't fully secured (check out the right side - the sag in the liner and gap between the receiver and coping). On the left side of the middle, I can see that the bead was either torn or cut and part of it wasn't tucked into the track.

I don't know how your contract reads but this isn't any sort of a good example of what a pool should look like after a new liner is dropped (installed). I also notice that they replaced the receiver in the corners pictured.

Did they offer you the option of getting a custom liner? (They cost a little more but, when you're dealing with a pool that is 'old' or that you didn't personally build, it's the best course of action when going to drop a new liner.) Do you know how they 'knew' which stock liner to order for your pool (i.e. did they come out and get some over-all dimensions of the pool or did they just 'say' it's an X x Y 6" radius corner pool with 8' center steps)?

I've dropped well over 1000 liners in IG pools, new, old and rehabed. I'm sorry for all the questions but, I don't want to suggest that they are hacks until I know that they maliciously did a sub-standard job.

I think you are correct in withholding the other 1/2 of the $ ( put it in escrow until your issues are resolved, that ought keep the PB from putting a lien on you ) . I will give you my 'Monday Morning Quarterback' opinion when I know more (just to let you know, I'm sort of 'pro PB' and won't 'slam' a pool dude without good/ reasonable cause)

I look forward to hearing your response and will work with you to determine the best course of action so that you have the pool you expected.

[cooper77]

Thanks Waste!

Yeah the liner on the opposite side of the steps is snug so my fear was that it was installed off center. He was having trouble getting the corners to grab anything because they we so far from the corner that he actually built an extruded piece to snap into and that he cut into pieces and just shoved in there so the liner had something to hold on to, it's infuriating that he was trying to pass this off as proffessional and I even told him it looked like I could have done that.

My contract reads as a new liner replacement, no mention of it being inferior to what was there already. He came out to do the measurements and custom ordered a liner from Plastimayd about 2 weeks before he was supposed to do the install. He keep saying that the pool has shifted over the years, but I know this was custom made and I shouldn't be held responsible for poor measurements right? What are your thoughts on the "footprint" in my shallow end? It's a sand bottom that was to be smoothed per his quote and this dent was not in my last liner. It's right in front of my stairs in a high traffic area and every time I step in it I cringe with disappointment.

I talked to him today and he was playing a bit dumb, he was surprised I was so mad and kept reassuring me he had done all he could. He has agreed to come back out next friday again but I'm 99% sure nothing will come of it. I've already mentioned the better business Bureau route to him but was hoping he would come clean and fix his mistakes.

[PoolDoc]

I talked to him today and he was playing a bit dumb, he was surprised I was so mad and kept reassuring me he had done all he could. He has agreed to come back out next friday again but I'm 99% sure nothing will come of it. I've already mentioned the better business Bureau route to him but was hoping he would come clean and fix his mistakes.

My guess is, he may not know HOW to do it better.