Pool Liner Shrunk

by Patricia Coldiron
(Houston, TX Harris)

I have a 24x15x5 oval pool with the six support beams. My vinyl liner was installed about two years ago. The installer did a sloppy job and installed the liner with one side with a lot of overlap and the other side barely over the top cover. Now the short side has shrunk about 2 inches below the top cover. It effects one of the panels. Is it okay to leave it like that or will it only get worse and water get behind the liner? Or should we drain the pool and stretch the liner?



Hi Patricia. It sounds like the liner has pulled over the pool wall and is hanging loose on the inside of the pool. This could easily be a problem if water starts to get in behind it. I would try to fix it if at all possible.

You would need to drain the pool and try to shift a little more liner over to that side. The trick to doing this is to make use of some direct overhead sunlight. The temperature and the amount of direct sun make all the difference in the world when it comes to working with vinyl.

Normally this type of shrinkage only occurs when a liner has been emptied, be sure to always keep your vinyl pool completely full of water.