Quote Originally Posted by elsie View Post
Very smart advice to just remove it and resurface as you said, very VERY smart to do now when the pool is empty and liner's being swapped out. The liner guy that I'm now probably not going to go with simply because some of his 'facts' were incorrect (a big tipoff that something's not right--he should certainly know the mil/gauge of the liner he's pushing as well as which mil is on the sides and which on the bottom) said there's probably vermiculite behind the liner, not concrete, can this substance be resurfaced? I always thought it was concrete because it's so hard. My only experience with vermiculite is that it was the tiny goldish *soft and loose* stuff (like confetti) that was in the attic of my old house in Mpls. (before I moved here to Alabama).

I'm so glad you hopped into this thread. I will most certainly have that drain cap filled in/however it's done, assuming it's doable. Then I can dismiss any potential problems down the road/getting sucked into it and becoming part of the Alabama underground landscape. Umm, but how is it filled in since there's a hollow pipe below it? Sort of like when I go to caulk something when the crack is too big you have to put something in there or the caulk would just go down down down?
Vermiculite can be patched very easily. Most liner technicians will have a bag or two to touch up spots here and there when they remove a liner. I described it like this to customers, it dries hard, about as hard as leaving a sheet cake out for a month. Very hard but when broken it crumbles. It's used so that if there's any heaving or failure underground you don't end up with a very sharp and rigid broken edge, like a buckled side walk. There's an edge but when push comes to shove it crumbles and breaks rather then tearing through the liner. I've dove into pools with a rubber mallet and a broad board and pounded out imperfections in aged pools. It can always be "manipulated" since it never fully "sets up" like concrete. A bowling ball works marvelous on protrusions, but you have to have expereince in how much of a brunt force a liner can take.

Anyway........

Here's what the your main drain probably looks like:


It's a basically a pot with a female threaded inlet (there's usually one on the bottom too). A flat surface on top that receives a cork gasket and a ring, both of equal size and shape, with screw holes through them. The screw hole pattern in the pot matches the ring and and gasket's screw hole pattern. The grate or vortex lid is mounted separately. The whole thing is no larger then a sauce pan.

All that needs to be done is to dig a little bit around it through the vermiculite. Find the "pipe" and cut it. The pipe remains buried forever, it's below the the surface of the liner and even the layer of vermiculite. Remove the pot, fill the hole in with some good fill that doesn't have any organic matter in it (clean fill). A 5 gallon bucket is usually enough. Tamp it very well because the pressure of the water will want to compress and compact it. Leaving this fill just even with the bottom of the existing vermiculite. The "verm" is usually about 2" (inches) thick on average. Mix about one bag of verm up, patch and "feather" it in with the rest of the bottom. At that point it's much like a repair to drywall, no liner technician worth his weight would bat an eye at doing this, what's charged is the only difference.

Now it is more work, the labor and drying time and so forth. But he does save time when installing the liner. There's no gasket and screws to fiddle with and make sure are sealed absolutely perfect. He also doesn't have to spend money on a new ring, a cork gasket, and a vortex lid. Which is the case if he quoted you "all new" for those items.

So it's sort of a trade off for him. More work at first, then less work. Some money for materials, but then a savings on less parts. But less problems to worry about in the long run, and less possibility for something he installed to have a problem.

I did it for free, because for me the trade off of not having it, versus a customers want to not spend more money (can't blame them) was worth it (to me). Who's going to opt for something that costs more, if I have to guarantee the sealing of it anyway (for a certain time)? And for me not having it is a bonus. So other then extremely outstanding circumstances (concrete for example), I did it for nothing if they wanted it gone forever.

What he's going to charge if he decides it's an "extra" is anyone's guess. I"d push him (a little) to do it for free, he knows it's good for him and it's about a wash when it comes to time and materials.

Unless he tries to soak you, I'd have the darn thing removed.