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Mar 23

5 Best Vinyl liner In-ground Pool Options and Upgrades

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Vinyl liner pools have certainly changed over the years. In the early years, other than size of the rectangle, if you wanted options with your pool the choices consisted of stairs or a diving board. Flash forward to the present and negative edge vinyl liner pools are a possibility. Now every imaginable shape, size, stair, bench, water feature …..etc. is available.

The five most common in-ground pool options in today’s pool market include:

1. In floor cleaning system: A properly installed cleaning system will make owning a pool a much more enjoyable and environmentally friendly experience. In floor cleaning systems will not vacuum out every speck of dirt from the pool bottom but it will make it so you will just have to brush a few areas where dirt will settle. Another huge benefit of cleaning systems is the way they return water to the pool. Cleaning systems are designed to move debris down to the deep end of the pool and allow the main drain to suck the debris into a top side canister. When you are heating the pool the hot water is always being returned to the bottom of the pool. The warm water will travel up all the way through the whole body of water rather than being returned to the top 16” of the pool’s surface in a normal pool return. This will prevent cold spots in the pool and will minimize the heat loss during heating times.

Vanquish In floor cleaning system

How an in-floor cleaning system works


2. Vinyl covered stairs and swim out seats:…….rather than the typical white plastic step which is included with the vinyl liner pool kits, vinyl covered stairs and bench seats have become very popular. Covering the stairs and bench seats will allow you to cantilever the deck over the edge of the pool and give the pool the desired natural look. Using the same pattern on the stairs and bench seats as the floor of the pool will give you the same effect as a gunite pool with all of the benefits of a vinyl liner pool.

vinyl covered steel steps Newbury, MA

3. Heaters: Gas heaters and heat pumps have certainly become a big option when installing a new pool. I would say approx. 70% of the new pools install a heater. The more common issue is whether to go gas or electric aka. heat pump. The fastest way to break the two types of heaters down is this; if you want to heat your pool up on a Friday night for a pool party on the weekend then you want a gas heater. If you want your pool to be 80 degrees all of the time then a heat pump is a better alternative. You will pay more up front for the heat pump but you will get back your initial investment over time in fuel savings.

4. Lighting: Lights have also come a long way since the inception of underwater pool lighting. LED lighting is the newest rage in pool lighting. LED lights give you the effects of fiber optic lighting but the LED lights actually light the pool up. Fiber optic lights are more of a mood light rather than a swimming light. Led lights now have themes such as; sunset mode, fourth of July, Caribbean, Halloween….etc. They all also have a white setting so if you just want to light the pool for safety then that is also an option.

Pentair INtellibrie LED pool light

A pool with a pentair Intellibrite LED pool light

5. Water features: From sheer decent waterfalls to fiber optic deck jets water features are a way to add flair to an ordinary pool. Waterfalls are tough to achieve unless you have a reason for them to be there. What I mean by this is to make a waterfall look natural you have to have some change of elevation within the landscape. If you do not have a change in elevation then a sheer decent waterfall built into a landscape feature (planter, two sided raised bond beam) is a way to get the waterfall effect without it looking like the waterfall is coming from an unnatural pile of rocks.

Sheer Descent pool side waterfall

Sheer Descent Pool SIde Waterfall

If you interested in learning more about the design possibilities of a vinyl liner in-ground pool and are located in either Massachusetts or Seacoast New Hampshire Request a free on-site pool consultation here>>

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