How To Replace An Inground Pool Liner 

We appreciate it. Our goal is to help the DIY pool owner.

Once you have the liner squared up and a good vacuum you need to go ahead a put the main drain face plates on before adding water. Unless you want to dive the pool when it’s full. Make sure your screw holes are cleaned out good.

How did you make out and any tips? I'm in Canada as well and was quoted $6k.

@@tonymagee1722 truth be told. The hardest part was making sure of the measurements were correct. It clipped in as follows. I used 3 shop vacuum to create enough suction. Mistake I made was left one of the hoses of the shop vac in to long. While adding water. But went all as planned. Costed me 2k for install and material.

@@tonymagee1722 6K? Is your pool olympic size?

@@jasonbrisco No, just a freeform shape and the price included install.

Mine was less than 5 grand.

Put the main drain on before you put the water in, put all other faceplates on when water is a couple inches above the shallow end

Bob Romanko No. Just make sure you buy or rent proper pool liner blowers. No matter what people say shop vac wont do the trick unless you have 7-8 of them :-).

@@rustyshackleford4668 how do you use the blowers? 😳

Just moved in a home with a pool. Ripped out existing liner due to holes and tears. To my nightmarish realization, it’s a sandbottom pool with plywood walls. The sand had caved down over the years and the 2x4s that framed the walls and structure ALL rotted out. Fucking nightmare. And to replace the plywood walls I’d have to excavate 6ft out from bottom of the pool walls all the way around so as not to have it all cave in. So my answer would be, this would be much better if it was cement hahahah

yea it’s all garbage u don’t want those leaves under your new liner

@@cracker7046 do you have to remove the leaves first?

@@brunogiovannisantinijunior4380 probably would be easier to because the leaves will make the liner a lot more heavy than it already is

Nope. Youre getting another line dude

No, you put it on after a few inches of water are covering it

Just watched pros let the vacuum run and bring the liner in tight... then cut the drain before adding any water... don't need water in the pool.

Did you ever find out? I'm doing mine now and can't remember if there should be a gasket between the liner and light(pool wall side) as well as one between the liner and actual light? Same thing for the skimmer face plate. I know one goes behind the liner and wall, but do you put one between the faceplate and liner when attaching it?

For inground liner pricing, you'd need to submit a quote request with your pool's measurements. The liner patterns we offer and the required form for the quote can be found on this page - www.inyopools.com/Category/inground-pool-custom-liner-patterns.aspx

@@Inyopools Got it, thank you

You can get that from most pool supply companys

We were advised to wire brush the metal sides. I had to use epoxy putty to smooth over some areas that were almost holes. We then painted the whole metal structure with a coloured rust treatment - the worst areas were painted first with thinned paint then the whole lot done with full strength. It looked really good when done. We paid a company to do our felt and liner but they are painfully slow, the liner is in but he couldn’t get the folds out, he said the pumps weren’t managing to do it so he wants a stronger pump. Surely there’s another way. Been waiting a week since he first put it in. It would be cool though if he’d managed first time.PS buy the wire brush you put on your drill, it’s too hard doing it by hand. They left us all winter without completing the liner. I'm having to empty the swamp, rehome the newts, frogs remove dead mice and birds etc and clean it now. Expecting them to have another go when it's warmer. There was a crack in the concrete floor but he said that didn't matter and put felt over it but is that why the suction didn't work?

Old comment above.... but that was unacceptable on the installers part. Rust should be ground off and covered with white rust protecting spray paint, walls scrapped clean of any bumpy scale, and the entire pool floor should be smooth and clean. Rust flecks can puncture a liner. The installer was lazy and/or incompetent.

😎

This pool had a main drain that had been filled in with concrete.

So when do you cut the main drain if the pool has one? Before or after water is added? Thanks!

I may be mildly biased, but www.inyopools.com has excellent deals on inground pool liners, liner foam padding, and main drain gaskets. Inground Pool Liners - www.inyopools.com/Category/inground-pool-custom-liner-patterns.aspx Pool Wall Foam - www.inyopools.com/Products/00100023003192.htm Main Drain Parts - www.inyopools.com/pool_part_cat_Main_Drain_Parts.aspx

Yes, they can be cut out once the drain gaskets and seal ring have been installed.

Hello Michaela - If you complete an Inground Liner Measuring Form, our custom liner department can email you a quote. images.inyopools.com/cloud/documents/form/Inyo-Liner-Measuring-Form-2016.pdf

Hello Nick - It is possible to add a light. However, it's not a simple task. You'd have to run conduit underground and to the backside of the pool wall. Then you'd have to cut a hole in the wall for a light niche or go with a nicheless light (AquaLumin III).

Bout 4 grand in NW Ga

Glad you enjoyed it!

Yep I agree

Not really. It’s pretty easy

I’ve done it twice at my dads in the past 20 years. The problem with hiring someone is if there is damage to the surface, they may not fully prep it and only do minimum. They may even ignore it and just throw a new liner over a bad surface. A lot of professionals cut corners now a days in many trades.

No kidding. You need at least 4 people who know what they're doing and the industrial stuff to do this. I stopped trying to even do the seasonal close and opening when I had to replace the cover that tore with an unusually high wind a couple of years into my house with the pool and then realizing I would not want to do this myself. Fast forward a few years and my back is thanking me for that decision now, lol.

My wife and two friends of ours just did this. It took about 4 hours and nothing about it was difficult. The vacuuming the air out took about 3 hours. Then we filled the pool, which took two days. About another hour to cut out the jets and return. The liner cost $2400. The quote I got from a local pool company to do this was $11,300. It was well worth it and worked exactly like this video said it would!

If it’s loose you’ll have wrinkles

This pool's main drain was blocked off years ago; there was no reason given for it, at least none that was provided to us. But you would cut the opening for the main drain around the same time you'd be cutting slits for the skimmer.

Ooo, Gotcha. Thanks!

since no one has answered, insert the screws provided undernath the liner screwing them in 3/4 of the way. The line wont tear over top of them. Then you can back the screws out through the liner. It will leave a tiny little hole and that is fine. If you search hayward return install you can see someone do it.

@@salteddunes5422 Thanks so much for the reply! I found someone doing it on the skimmer, light ring, and step gasket (mainly to find the holes) so I'm assuming I can do it with the main drain.

It's been a while, but I believe the homeowner had just bought the house, and the pool had fallen into disrepair before they arrived. The pool was in South Florida, so the water turned green pretty quickly without proper chlorination.

The step gasket is very durable and usually doesn't need to be replaced when replacing the liner.

I would replace all seals when installing new liner. Cheap, and why not...

After a few inches of water is covering it.

Probably, but may not be a good idea for slip/hazard purposes, especially if you have children. I'm willing to bet your local pool contractor could order you specific steps that match and are slip resistant.

Do you have any idea why main drains are rare in Midwest vinyl pools?

@@Inyopools I was told that it is due to lousy winterizing, and the expense of fixing frozen plumbing. My pool shows evidence (cut and patched concrete) of frozen return pipes. When I get the liner out (fall or spring?) I may even find an abandoned main drain. I've seen one (functional) main drain, ever, in a vinyl pool, out of perhaps a dozen.

A shop vac works well.

Our pleasure!

Light trim before water gets to it, main drain after a few inches of water cover it

By the way, it’s quite likely I end up hiring someone to do the job, but I’m more curious if my pool man is being shady!

Hi Katie. While doing research on how to fix my 37 year old pool that has been out of operation and in need of a liner for 13 years now. There's very little water in the deep end (some ducks and squirrels frequent it for water 😂). Anyways, my pool has not caved in. I'd say if your pool is still operational and just in need of a new liner, you're going to be fine. The tricky part is getting the measurements and ordering the correct size. Hopefully yours is an easy shape, mine is a reverse kidney shape and its going to be a little tricky (for me) to get it accurately measured out

@@ridgid859 Thank you so much for replying! My pool is pretty simple rectangle shape so that shouldn’t be toooo difficult :) Really appreciate the response! Have a good night Xx

@@crownhouses2296 there some cool calculators online that help you measure pool for liners. That might help! Although right now it seems like the cost of pools is suffering due to supply chain issues. I know chlorine for one is in short supply and very expensive. I believe some resins are as well, so that may effect liner pricing. Best of luck! Hope we are both swimming in our refurbished pools in no time!

Just wait until the ground dries out a little. In 2009 when we replaced the liner at our new residence, I drained it in the spring, and the liner came up about 3ft in the deep end. Had to cut the liner to pump the water out. This year, doing it this week (Labor Day week) and only had 6" or so of water in the deep end, and that was with a bad leak around my skimmer faceplate. I had hired someone to do it in 2009, but DIY this time as well as repairing the wall around the skimmer.

The main drain on a vinyl pool usually has two gaskets. One goes under the liner and one over. At least a day ahead of the liner install, you can glue the bottom gasket to the top of the main drain. We recommend using RTV silicone. This will prevent the gasket from sliding around when the liner is placed over it. Once the liner is in place, vacuum out the air from behind the liner like we did in the video. Then you can line up the 2nd gasket and main drain ring over the liner. The holes should match up with the holes on the gasket/frame on the underside of the liner. Then you can insert the screws through the face ring and outer gasket, through the liner, and into the bottom gasket and frame. Once the screws are tight, you can cut out the liner material that is inside the ring (similar to how we did the skimmer in the video).

It is best to wait until the water is just under the returns and skimmer. Unfortunately, we shot this video out of town and were not able to come back once the water level had risen.

Hello Asmita - Here is a good video on how to measure a liner for a freeform style inground pool. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-avkUQ-GBGC0.html

You can email us at upload@inyopools.com

We used duct tape on the back side of the liner and taped it to the steps.

@@Inyopools the one has glue on both sides?

Manuel Mendoza that would be easier

Can you guys do a makeover on my pool .. please

It's not difficult if you follow the steps in the video and have 2-3 people helping you do the install.

We installed ours diy when we built the pool. Just reviewed this video to replace our liner diy next week. Not a big deal to diy. We paid 3k for our new 20x40 heavy duty liner. You could screw it up twice before you get it right and still beat 10k. Couple tips...use a strong shop vac and don't put the hose in far or it will get stuck behind the liner. For the main drain be sure the underside gasket is either glued and dried in place or screwed in most of the way before laying in liner so that under gasket doesn't move. After liner is sucked to bottom, add top gasket, cut out liner and add drain screen. For the rest of the holes, don't install gaskets and cut liner until water level is just below them.

This pool did not have an active main drain. At some point, it was filled in with concrete.

Oh man that is funny. LMAO

O.44. No drain settings, but there is clearly a discharge valve on the system. Still love these videos. Always very helpful.

The main drain for this pool had been filled with concrete long before we were asked to replace the liner.

You could see them taping it off in the time lapse with duct tape

I had the same color water in my pool wound up being high iron had to get mineral remover

City water is usually the worst hahahaha

You folded?