Old vinyl pools - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

artisanstone · 08-07-2008, 05:14 PM

Can someone fill me in about how vinyl pools are constructed. I'm a stone mason, and I've done a good bit of work around shotcrete pools. However, my current project has a vinyl pool (judging by the appearance of the concrete deck around it, it's been in service for 15-20 years. The client is putting a good bit of natural stone in his backyard, and wants to include the old pool deck. I know nothing about vinyl pools. I gather that when I lay the coping stones, I should leave the plastic quarter round at the top clear as this is removable for liner replacement. Is there anything else I should be aware of? Is it permissible to drain the pool? What actually supports the excavation in a vinyl pool?

Thanks in advance.

carolinapoolboy · 08-11-2008, 05:04 PM

Hey Bill,
My experiences with older vynil pools has been they are mostly constructed of a polymer or steel wall which support the ground around them, with a vermiculite base. You'll be fine to drain it, just try not to leave the bottom exposed for too long because the weather will erode the soft base leading to you having to make repairs on it. If you do drain it be prepared to replace the old liner. After about 24-48 hrs in the sun the vynil will begin to shrink and when you refill it you will see tears in the areas that shrank.

I have a question as to your scope of work;
Will you be removing the old concrete to lay your coping stone? If so I have a few suggestions on how to give the pool more of a concrete pool look, and a "cleaner" appearance overall.

Sean

artisanstone · 08-11-2008, 06:05 PM

Unfortunately we are working over the old slab. I plan to rake the bed joint of my coping stones to expose the vinyl "quarter round" so it can be accessed in the future.
I say unfortunately, because when I did layout today, the pool is 1.5" out of square to itself, which will force me to cut my stone a lot more than I want. The expansion joints in the deck are out of square to the pool by up to six inches in 12'.

I am using a crack suppression membrane to move them back to square. I am not terribly impressed with this pool builder whoever he is or was.
The reason I asked about the structure is that when I reach down and thump the side of the pool, it sounds like hollow plastic. How does this hold up an excavation?

carolinapoolboy · 08-13-2008, 08:40 AM

1.5" out isn't too bad for the age of the pool. I've seen them up to 4 or 5" out on renovations I've done and it makes fitting a new liner a real pain in the ass. YIKES! The expansion joints are a different story though, makes you wonder what the original contractor was thinking when pouring the decking. Do you have any before pics?

Are you sure the "quarter round" as you called it is removable? Most older vynil pools have a white coping that surrounds the perimeter. It's one piece with a track on the bottom of it for the bead of the liner to snap into. You should take a better look at that because I don't believe I've ever seen a removable coping and if you didn't have to rake your bed joint, maybe the cuts would be a little easier. Also, I don't know if you've thought of it or not but on renovations I've done in the past I've painted the coping in the closest color to my mortar I could find. It's one of those finishing touches that really goes unnoticed but makes the overall appearance of the project alot better.