Liner is Slipping

by David
(Minnesota, USA)

We just installed an overlap replacement liner in our 30' AGP on Friday evening. This morning, Sunday, we noticed that one side of the pool liner had slipped down in varying amounts.

We left to run some errands and after returning home we found it had slipped some more leaving us with only a 3" overlap in some places.

The temperature on Friday was 70 degrees but has since then fallen to 50 and is supposed to remain there for the next two weeks. We stopped filling the pool when we saw this and now the pool has about 1' of water in it.

What do we do now? Is it safe to keep filling it? If so, will the overlap be enough to survive winters and frost heave? Do we wait until the weather turns warm, drain some of the water and try to re-stretch it? Help!




Hi David. These are very good questions. If the liner had been tucked back into the pool, as described on the following page, you would probably not be having this problem.

Vinyl Liner Overhang

You are very correct about the temperature and the amount of sunlight a liner receives as being important factors. If you were looking at 100 plus degree days ahead filling would probably not be a problem. The weather is not working in your favor. I would still continue, however, filling only during the hottest times of the day. Watch it closely, you can always drain and start over if it slips out.

Normally by the time a pool has a foot of water in it the stretching is done. The liner should be tight against the wall and should not pull down any more. If you always leave the pool completely full of water there should never be any further shrinking. Draining, on the other hand, could be a problem.

Liner Keeps Slipping

by Jennifer
(Buchanan, NY)

My brother n law purchased an above ground pool. We leveled the ground, set up the pool, and began filling it with water.

At first it looked great, a few days later one side of the liner slipped off. We emptied the pool out manually, fixed the liner and began filling the pool up again. The liner began slipping out again.

Apparently the ground is way too soft and the pool sinks down on one side more than the other. Now we did level it correctly but unfortunately it's a natural act of nature.

Is there any way that we can use some heavy duty clips to hold the liner in place? Starting from scratch isn't an option especially when the ground being soft is giving us the issue. You can not fight with nature.





Hi Jennifer. I wish I had more information about what type of liner you are using, what kind of pool and what you used for a cushion under the liner. So I will do my best.

When a liner is slipping it usually helps to do the filling during the hottest part of the day. Until the water is at least over half full do not fill at night or when the liner is in shade.

As far as the soft ground goes, this should not happen. It is extremely important that above ground pools be set on firm solid ground. The posts should be set on concrete blocks. The bottom rails should be set on equally firm ground. The track can rest on blocks, some sort of granite, or a very firm packed soil.

Any soft ground, ground that will not pack, should be removed. The pool should be set on a base that is firm and solid, even if it means bringing in several tons of granite, or something similar. To say the ground is soft and there is nothing you can do does not sound right. But neither does it sound right to say the soft ground is responsible for the liner coming out. I think there are other issues involved.