Looking for someone to replace pool liner

[aylad]

I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and replace my liner before swim season this year, and I need to know what questions I should ask when shopping for an installer. I've found a potential installer that offers 27 mil sides and bottom, (says the 27 mil is on sale now for the same price as 20 mil, a statement that I also got from another installer who I was considering), gives 15 year warranty on liner and 10 year on installation, has given me a ballpark price of $2500 including liner but wants to come out to see it before giving me a final price, and says we can go ahead and order the liner of my choice and install in approximately 2 weeks. (Air temps here are now in the 60s during the day and low 50s at night, guessing the water temp is somewhere in the mid 50s). IN two weeks we should be in the 70s during the day...I say SHOULD............

This guy is not BBB accredited so I see no information about him online. Other than asking for references when the guy comes out, is there anything else I need to ask? For a climate that just about demands a swimming pool during the summer, liner installers sure are hard to find.............

Janet

[waste]

Janet, glad that Spring is finally rolling around for someone

They are going to measure the pool to insure they order a liner that will definitely fit, right?

Will they replace the old faceplates?

What's the cost for touching up/ repairing the floor and walls?

Will they be foaming the walls?

How will the pool be filled and who pays for it? (probably you)

It might not be a bad idea to pressure test the lines before installing a new liner, just to be sure there are no problems

The price sounds good, just make sure it doesn't suddenly double.

[aylad]

Waste,
Thanks for replying, I was hoping you'd see this post...

I had not asked him about replacing faceplates or re-leveling the sand floor, but I will when the guy comes out. He is going to measure it, that's why the ballpark quote but requires a visit here before giving a "real" quote. The walls are lined with this thick polymer shell that came in pieces and fit together like a giant puzzle, so there's no place for foam, if that's what you were referring to. I am assuming I will be responsible for re-filling the pool--I had to fill it when it was installed and it never occured to me that somebody else may do it--My water is almost perfect chem-wise anyway, so I prefer to do that myself even if they offer it

Thanks for the suggestions........

Janet

Edit: Another prospect returned my call after I posted the above, and quoted me $2450, tax included. His business is strictly pool liner installation/repair/leak detection, etc...not pool liner installation as an addition to selling/designing/servicing all the other types of pools. Gave me all the right answers to the above questions, including that he replaces return eyeballs and skimmer face plates and will smooth out the bottom and do patchwork as needed on the floor as part of the deal. (This guy is familiar with the company that put my pool in and reminded me that instead of sand on the bottom, they use a sand/concrete mixture that sometimes has to be patched in places. I had forgotton that...) Since my hubby is an investigator, we looked up this guy and his business with every resource that we had available and could find nothing negative anywhere, including in civil court for the surrounding parishes. He's been in business since 1988. Any red flags going up for you? I have no reason not to trust him, although I don't really trust anybody, but this is a lot of money to throw away....

J

[AnnaK]

This second guy "feels" right, you know what I mean? What you might do is ask him for references and then actually call the numbers he gives you and ask the pool owners about their experience working with him. Of course, he'll only give you happy customers but still . . .

I'm hoping you'll post about your experience of this entire process, beginning to end, so we can learn what all is involved with liner replacement. It'll happen to us eventually. Our pool bottom has really suffered over time, the sand has moved or something because I can feel and see the struts that run between the two long sides. That can't be good for the liner

I was wondering about the water that's in your pool now. Will that just be pumped out into the yard? Or can it be sucked into a tanker and re-used?

AnnaK

[aylad]

I went ahead and signed a contract with the second installer above.....he made an appointment to come out the next morning, was there when he said he'd be, equipped with what he needed to do what seemed to be a hundred measurements. One thing I like is that it's an owner/operator kind of business--he doesn't take the orders and then subcontract the work out so that if there's a problem, nobody takes responsibility for it--he takes the orders and does the installation himself with a group of guys that works for him, so if there's a problem I know exactly who/how to call. When he came, he was in a new van with temporary tags, so he apparently has good credit, and I thought it was funny that when he raised the door in back to get his stuff out, it was mixed in with his son's soccer equipment, baseball bats, etc, so he's apparently a family man. Talked a lot about his kids and their activities, and turns out he knows some of the people my daughter barrel races with, so he's not some unknown person around here. It was interesting to me that he took one look at where the holes are in the liner and said it was very common for people to start having problems with the liner pulling out of the track a couple of years prior to failing, then the problem suddenly stops, then about a year later develops the first hole in the corner that gets the most direct sun. Said it usually can be patched and used for another year or so before other holes start developing.....which is EXACTLY the timeline for those events in my pool! So he at least knows something about what he's doing, which made me feel a little more confident.

I picked out the new liner, which happens to be the same company my existing liner came from, and he says he'll be ready to start on it in approximately 14 business days, barring any sudden freezes or series of stormy days, but at least I'm ahead of the springtime rush, and he says it will be about 4 days start to finish once he starts working on it. Collected 50% of the money up front, says the other 50% isn't due until after the job is finished.

Since the liner had a leak somewhere in it and I was having to refill water on a daily basis for the last couple of weeks of warm weather in the fall, I just let it drain during the winter down to the leak, and it finally stopped just below the returns. Had to blow out the lines for the first time ever, since my pool usually is functional year-round! I did very little to it all winter because I knew we were draining it, so it has a good bit of algae growing in it right now, so I won't re-use it. Besides, I'm lucky enough that the water from our tap is almost perfect chem-wise, so once it's refilled, it will just be a matter of raising my CYA again to be back to perfect. The pool is only about 2/3 full right now, so he'll pump part of the water into my backyard. Since it slopes down toward my neighbors in the back, the rest will be pumped out into the ditch in my front yard. We live in the middle of a dead-end street and the ground slopes downward in both directions, so the ditches will direct the water both ways and hopefully absorb without flooding anybody.

So...that's where we stand right now. I'll be glad to see him start working on it--he assures me that we'll be ready to swim by the middle of April, which is usually when the water is warmed up enough, so I hope it all goes as planned!

Janet

[AnnaK]

He sounds like a good guy. I'm like you: I prefer to deal locally with family owned and operated businesses whose employees do the work rather than subbing everything out.

Good luck with the job!


Anna