I know of someone with a vinyl liner pool and is in the process of filing a lawsuit now. She has a mudhole in her backyard and is $38,000.00 in the "hole", so to speak. I've seen alot of fiberglass pools around here. They all seem to be good when they are new, but when they get older, they all seem to have surface deterioration. My mother in laws pool is starting to chip. Hers is 14 years old. There is also another fiberglass in this area that I have seen latetly that is so bad that it needs to be replaced. That pool is around 20 years old. I really don't know if it can be resurfaced or not. I went to waterworldpools and saw this statement that they make as fact. "Fiberglass is seventeen times stronger than gunite, never needs to be resurfaced, and there is no costly liner to replace." This is just not true from what I have seen with my own eyes. I knew that when I even started thinking about a pool in my yard that it would be gunite. There was just no decision to be made. I know that my pool builder also has photos on his website of pool remodels where they have actually gone in and gunnited old existing fiberglass pools. That tells me alot right there. I know that plaster or diamondbrite or a pebble finish can deteriorate too, but, altleast it can be redone.

Hi!! We just had our vinyl pool installed last summer and I agree picking the vinyl color is very difficult. We chose a grey color b/c I didn't want the color to be really artificially blue or something really dark. I also chose not to have a border put on mine b/c some of the borders are cheesey to me. I was very happy with my choice. Here are some pictures of my pool to give you an idea. I'll also include a close up of the liner so you can see the liner color and how it translates thoroughout the whole pool with the water in it. mine was a "custom" (that is the brand name) liner and the color was "adobe". When the sun isn't on it it has more of a pretty grey/green/blue color. Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be glad to help!

Not all liner pool steps are white. They do come in colors. Liner over steps get pounded. Often, a special, thicker, liner material for this area is used. Concrete or steel doesn't matter. The earth behind the wall does, assuming there are no raised walls, to provide the vertical wall with support against the pressure of the water in the pool. Concrete, steel and resin walled pools can all be made into a free form shape of your choosing. Only the 40" wall is concrete, resin, or steel. The rest is either a Portland sand mix or Vermiculite and Portland, two to four inches thick. Under that should be a suitable sub-floor capable of supporting without deforming. Concrete walls require wall foam between the wall and liner. In a high water table area, sometimes the wall foam rises up, bunches, and pulls the liner bead out. This can cost you a liner. Wall foam generally gets replaced when it comes time for a new liner. This is an added cost typically several hundred dollars. Liner over steps is another added cost, again in the several hundred dollar range. When building a pool, the steps can be either inside or outside the perimeter. It doesn't matter which material is used. I, as a service tech, don't like the added number of penetrations an in-floor cleaning system requires, especially when it comes time to replace the liner. Add age related liner shrinkage, and it's just additional places for holes to form. Stick with the pressure side sweep. Either system will help you keep your clean pool free of debris. Manually vacuuming a dirty pool must be expected so you will still need these tools. What "angled wall" are you referring to? Where you live plays a lot in cost/benefit ratio for a heat pump vs gas fired heater. Things to consider are temps desired, the use of a solar cover (many find them to be too much of PITA), average air temps, and energy costs. Some pay a lot for electricity, enough so to make the gas fired heaters more economical. Gas fired units, properly sized, are almost always faster, often two to three times faster. Selecting the brand(s) and models of equipment at this stage is a bit premature. There is a tendency toward building more energy efficient and safer systems for homeowners and automation improvements to make caring for the pool easier. By your coming here, you realize that you need additional education before you sign on the dotted line and write the first check. We're here to help. Scott

Thanks for all the kind comments. To answer some of your questions... Run53-- that is an 8 foot market sytle umbrella. It is in a heavy iron type decorative base. I bought the base at a garden center type store and it is wonderful. I liked it so much I went and purchased another to hold the umbrella we use at our table on the patio. It is very stable and holds without problem. I'd say it probably weights about 25 pounds. geeebeck-- Our pool is 16x34 in size and goes from 3.5 to 8 feet in depth. The decking is 3 feet on one side, 4 feet on the other (by retaining wall) 5 feet at diving board and 14 feet at the stairs. We are located in south central Pennsylvania. I am happy now with the simple lines of the pool. I initially wanted a mountain lake free form design but we have a small yard. The smallest diving pool in a mountain lake was 18x36 and would not have fit. My kids definately wanted a pool with the diving board so we opted for this design. The retaining wall and step down from our patio make a nice transition and looks pretty good. bobyoe-- We are all very happy with the pool and the kids have been using it daily. We've been using the solar cover the past two weeks since the weather has cooled off a little and last night the pool was 86 degrees. We didn't get ours from the builder, I wanted a different cover so I purchased it separeatly along with the solar real. My neighbor has a pool and recommended the solar cover purchase to me.