Wrinkles in Vinyl Liner

by Michele

I just had my 18 x 33 above ground pool installed and the whole bottom is very bumpy and the liner is wrinkled in lots of places. Is that okay?



Hi Michele. My Installations all have smooth bottoms and are wrinkle free. There is an art and a science to it, and after nearly 40 years, perfection is easy for me. It was not always that way and you have to start somewhere. I am guessing your installers were not old veterans.

There are a few drawbacks to having a lumpy pool base. It will be uncomfortable on your feet when you are swimming and stubbing a toe is easy to do. The deeper the holes and the bigger the wrinkles the harder it is to keep clean. In bad cases it can be nearly impossible to get all the dirt out of the pool. If you ever get a case of algae, getting rid of it becomes that much harder. Depending on how bad the job is an automatic pool cleaner may be unable to move freely around the pool. And lastly, the liner will not last as long as one with a smooth base.

If you used a sand base you could drain the pool and smooth it out. The weight of the water does an amazing job of packing the sand and it should stay smoother as you work the liner back into place.

The other option is to live with it until your first liner change and then get it done correctly, without any wrinkles and a smooth base.