It's possible to use vinyl tarps as an alternative pool liner. It can apply to a swimming pool.
Because fiberglass swimming pools have no liner, there's no need to concern yourself with puncturing the pool surface.
If cutting costs without cutting corners is on your agenda, do yourself and the planet a favor by padding your pool with newspapers and cardboard. Both materials are readily available -- and free for the asking -- from recycling centers, store refuse containers or your own recycling bins.
Pool liners are made from colorized chlorinated PVC thermoplastic vinyl. This vinyl material is durable, easy to manufacture, and economically priced.
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Vermiculite pool bottoms are inexpensive and easy to apply. Palmetto Vermiculite for Pools is a medium C-3 grade that works best as a pool base. Retains flexibility after cure, to handle soil movement without cracking. Forms a semi-permeable aboveground pool base that allows water to percolate into the ground.
Use rigid urethane foam sheets for pool pads, not soft upholstery foam. Solid foam insulation can be ideal on a concrete surface. One of the benefits of solid foam insulation is that it's made of polystyrene or polyurethane and thus is easily cut and shaped.
Concrete is probably the best option since it is usually 100% level and smooth. Also, grass can't grow through concrete and animals and bugs can't damage or burrow through it either. Grass or dirt is also another great option, as long as it has been properly leveled and you've killed off the grass first.
Concrete pads are excellent to use as a base for your above ground pool, but you'll want to add another cushion between the two. Concrete is an abrasive material and will wear on the liner if it's in direct contact. Concrete is the best choice for a solid base because it is perfectly flat.
The fundamental purpose of a pool liner is to keep the water inside the swimming pool and prevent leaks.
Concrete, or gunite, pools don't need a liner either. But concrete is a very porous material and will readily allow the growth of algae unless the water is properly maintained. You'll use far more chemicals with concrete pools than you would with vinyl or fibreglass models.
CCS's line of Vinyl Tarps are waterproof. As an industrial strength tarp, Vinyl Tarps are flame retardant, tear, rip & mildew resistant. They also resist oil, acid, and grease. Vinyl Tarps are made to resist harsh environments.
Your pool water level should not be too low, as the water must support the cover in situations where you receive a heavy snowfall. At the same time, ideally you don't want the water to touch the underside of the cover under general conditions as that contact will create a wet spot where debris will accumulate.
Some cheap tarps are not fully waterproof when used in a pond. However, you can use a vinyl tarp as a pond liner. It is tear-resistant, UV protected, and waterproof. A vinyl tarp will not only contain water in your pond, but it will also help keep debris out for easier maintenance.
By far the best material to place under a swimming pool liner is Armor Shield or Gorilla Pad. These materials are breathable allowing moisture to escape and are extremely tough, keeping insects and moles from coming through and piercing the vinyl pool liner.
Gorilla Pads are pre-cut floor pads designed to protect and cushion the bottom of above ground pools. Unlike old pool foam padding, which can be easily be cut or pierced by grass, roots, or rocks under your above ground pool liner, Gorilla Bottom pool floor padding is impervious to almost any sharp object.
Many wonder though if above ground pools are exclusively used over grass, sand, or soil only and if installing it over concrete is impossible (for fear of it getting punctured). The good news is, yes, you can install your above ground pool on concrete if a sand or soil base is not possible.
Dig away soil instead of building up low patches.
Always dig away slopes and high spots to make them level with lower areas, even if it takes more work. If you fill in a patch with dirt or sand, the weight of the pool and water will compress it and cause problems in the future.
The ratio is 2 bags of Vermiculite to 1 bag of cement. The Vermiculite and cement go into the mixer and then you'll add about two and a half 5-gallon buckets of water, until you reach an oatmeal consistency that you can trowel easily. Leave it in the mixer for about 20-30 seconds and that should do it.
The use of gunite or shotcrete is typically your pool builder's choice.
A vermiculite bottom sets up completely in three to five days. Although in some instances liners can be installed almost immediately after troweling, pool owners should be cautioned about using the pool until curing is complete.