No matter how well you take care of your pool, you will eventually need to replace the liner. Over time, pool liners will begin to fade and become brittle due to a combination of water balance and UV radiation from the Sun. Today, we will discuss what you should consider when buying a new liner for your pool, and show you a few ways that you can increase the lifespan of your new liner.

What To Consider When Buying A New Inground Pool Liner

Colour

One of the most basic decisions you need to make when choosing your new pool liner is what colour you want it to be. Since water is clear, it takes the colour of your liner. For this reason, your pool liner is the largest and most visible design elements in your pool.

Blue liners are the safest and by far the most popular choice, but they are by no means your only choice. There are plenty of other available colours such as tan, grey, and black that can give your pool a dramatically different look. Before simply getting the same liner that you had before, it can be very beneficial to look through a liner sample book to see if there are any colours that might suit your style better.

Pattern

When looking through your liner sample book you will notice that there are several different patterns available with many of the colours. While there are far too many different patterns to discuss in-depth here, they mostly fall into 2 categories; shiny and dull.

“Shiny” pool liner patterns (above left) are designed to make the water look like is sparkling by adding white accents to the colour of the liner. “Dull” patterns (above right) don’t have these white accents and will give the water a more monotone look.

Don’t Review Liner Samples Inside

Pool liner sample books are great as they let you see actual pieces of the vinyl that make up the liner, rather than simply looking at a photo on paper. The problem is that these samples can look drastically different in a showroom than they do in your pool.

To get a real sense of how your new liner will look in the pool we recommend taking the samples outside to see how they look in the sunlight. Better yet, ask your retailer if you can take a couple of samples home to see how they will look in your pool! This will give you the best idea of how your new pool liner will look before you order it.

Thickness

Inground pool liners come in a variety of thicknesses. Generally speaking, the thicker the vinyl is, the harder it will be for rips to form in it and the longer it will last. For best results, look for pool liners that are 30mm thick.

Material

Simply put, all vinyl isn’t created equal. Vinyl made with recycled materials contain impurities that can affect the strength of the vinyl. This leads to a much shorter lifespan than liners made with “virgin” vinyl (vinyl made with materials sourced in their raw form and containing no recycled materials).

Installers

Even a great liner can be ruined by bad installers. Inexperienced installers can cause cosmetic issues such as wrinkles or bubbles in the liner or more serious issues like stretching that can actually affect the lifespan of the liner.

All liners stretch a bit in places when being installed. The problem arises when inexperienced technicians don’t properly measure the pool and order a liner that won’t properly fit the pool. When installed, the pool liner will stretch more than it’s meant to, reducing the thickness of the liner as it does so. This makes the liner more susceptible to rips as well as speeding up the degradation caused by poor water balance and UV from the Sun.

How To Increase The Lifespan Of Your Inground Pool Liner

So now that you know what to look for when buying a new pool liner, the question becomes how to increase the lifespan of your new pool liner. Here’s three easy tips to help make sure that you get the longest life from your inground pool liner.

• Keep your water balanced. The absolute best way to increase the lifespan of your pool liner is to regularly test and balance your pool water. Poor water balance causes your liner to become brittle over time; greatly increasing the risk of the liner tearing.
• Brush the liner after shocking the pool. When you shock your pool with powdered shock, some of it won’t dissolve right away and will instead sit on the liner. Over time, this can damage and fade the liner pattern in these areas. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, quickly brush the liner after shocking the pool to get it off the liner and let it properly dissolve in the water.
• Patch any rips or holes that you see right away. As liners age they will inevitably begin to develop a few small tears. To prevent these small tears becoming larger, unrepairable tears you will want to patch them as soon as you notice them.

Do You Need A New Liner For Your Inground Pool?

Give us a call! Our professional installation team has a combined experience of almost 60 years installing replacement pool liners. Our highly refined liner replacement service allows us to be competitive with pricing, timeline, and quality of your new pool liner installation. We use only North American made virgin vinyl to ensure the best quality possible to maximize your investment.