Installing a Used Pool Liner

by Casey

Can you reuse an above ground swimming pool liner after you move it? It is only three years old.


Hi Casey. In my opinion it is more trouble than it is worth trying to install used liners. I've done it several hundred times so I know it's possible. I prefer liners that are in their first or second season. Beyond that they loose their elasticity and become impossible to work with.

The only real way to know if the liner will fit back into the pool is to try it. Once the pool wall is up and the pool base prepared you can toss the liner in. The first thing you need to do is find the skimmer location in the liner. This needs to be pinned up over the pool wall so that the skimmer hole in the liner matches the one in the wall. Someone will need to hold the wall to keep in from falling while you unfold the liner. Take the liner under the skimmer and put it to the cove. Now go directly across the pool and pull the liner over the wall.

If you can hold the liner into the cove area at both sides of the pool, and still have enough liner to go over the wall opposite the skimmer, chances are pretty good the liner can be installed again. The other thing to consider is the bottom portion of the liner. Is it crusty and unworkable or can it be easily smoothed out?

New liners will always be easier to install and look much nicer than used ones. Below are a few useful pages about above ground pool liners.

Overlap Liners

Expandable Liner Installation

Above Ground Pool Liner Installation

Vinyl Liner Replacement