PROBLEMS WITH VINYL POOL SAND-BASE BOTTOMS:

To help prevent accidents while diving, the pool industry changed its regulations. Vinyl swimming pools are now constructed with steeper-pitched sidewalls and are made deeper than ever before.

With these new regulations and new construction practices, the use of sand as a base for a vinyl-liner pool can result in several common problems:

1. 1. On the steeped pitched sidewalls, the sand may eventually slide down.

1. Packed sand is not porous. Changes in the water table can create hydrostatic pressures strong enough to break through the base. This can result in washouts of the walls and floor, and lumps of sand settling under the liner distorting the vinyl pool bottom. Vermiculate/Portland cement mixes, with NO sand in the mix, although more expensive than with sand mixed in, lets the water pass through it, when the hydrostatic pressures build up under the bottom of your vinyl pool. In most cases, the water still has to be removed to reset the vinyl liner, (to get rid of wrinkles that may form), but the liner does not have to be removed. With sand bottoms you must remove the vinyl liner to repack the sand properly, which is a massive job to fix!
2. And most importantly; Sand is too coarse, it tends to wear out vinyl-liners. In contrast, Vermiculite and Portland cement mix pool bases, with NO sand in the mix, are much softer and the liners last longer!
3. Also, Vermiculite/Portland Cement, with NO sand mixed into the pool base, is an insulating Vermiculite/Cement formulation. Questions; Call Rich at: 609-313-0300