This pool is 20′ x 50′ so we needed to use 3 vacs to get the suction we needed on the liner, even though we always seal all the wall seams.

Here is a basic timeline of how we install our liners ::
1.  Place liner in deep end and open it to the shallow end of pool.
2.  Tuck bead into coping at couple of places around pool.
3.  Start at the step to make sure it is aligned perfectly, if the step is lined up correctly the rest will fall into place.
4.  Start working around the pool tucking the bead into the coping, making sure all the corners are aligned correctly.
5.  Once you see that the liner is where it is supposed to be, place your vacs behind the liner to start sucking the air out.  Cap all plumbing/lights/conduit that isn’t run yet so you are just pulling air from behind the liner.
6.  Install your gaskets and trim pieces around your step.
7.  Cut in your main drains installing all gaskets and faceplates.
8.  Start filling your pool with water.
9.  When the water gets to 1″ above the shallow end, cut in your lights and returns.
10.  Run pool lights before water gets to high.
11.  Cut in your skimmers.
12.  Pull vacs.

Depending on what you are viewing this on, the video is in HD (720)

Thanks to everyone involved!

This pump utilizes the simple fundamental law of pumps ::
Slower moving pumps consume less power!

By running your pump longer at a slower speed you will ::

• Use less electricity
• Have cleaner water
• More balanced chemicals
• More evenly balanced water temperature

Pentair’s permanent magnet motor (same as in Hybrid Cars) has many additional features that are result of being a better pool pump.  The pump is the quietest pump on the market and at low speeds you might not even know it is on.  Since the magnet motor produces less heat and vibration, it creates less wear on the pump components and other pool equipment . . . that means longer life and greater returns on your investment.
The best feature of the smart IntelliFlo, is the built in diagnostics that protect itself from common causes of premature pump failure – overheating, freezing, and voltage irregularities.

While the manufacturer’s website states you can save as much as 90% in yearly savings, the real number is closer to 40% – 70%.  Say after taxes and fess your average kwh is $0.15, you can expect to save roughly $620 – $1,360 per year . . . compared to running a traditional pump 6 – 12 hours for a 20,000 gallon pool.

Adding the IntelliFlo pump to an automation system like Pentair’s EasyTouch gives you plenty of expansion for your system.  You can even remove the use of a booster pump for  pressure sided auto cleaners.

While these pumps generally retail for over $1,100, Penguin Pools of Milwaukee offers these pumps for only $599 with our pool packages.  They are a better pump, save you money, and allow for future expansion with no additional pumps.

You can view all of the pumps information on Pentair’s Website.  We have installed these pumps on swimming pools in areas like Waukesha, New Berlin, Hartland, Merton, Waterford, Brookfield .  . .

Along with just doing vermiculite bottoms on all of our inground vinyl liner pools in WI, MN, & IL, we also apply it with a special mixer and pump from Strong Manufacturing.  The mixer and pump give us a perfect consistency throughout the entire pool so we don’t have to worry about some areas being too dry or wet.  The time that it takes us to pour a bottom has been greatly reduced, and we have 10% – 15% less waste then with a simple paddle mixer.  Penguin Pools is also able to keep the site cleaner as we have over 75′ of hose, so we can keep the mixer away from the house in the corner of your site to minimize the clutter & mess.

Penguin Pools also re-pours bottoms for older pools that had original sand bottoms.  The key to a good inground vinyl liner replacement is a solid base.  In the Milwaukee, WI & Minneapolis, MN areas we do a ton of vinyl liner pool replacements that are damaged do to a bad or poor subsurface.

In the SE WI, Penguin Pools does pool bottoms, for various pool companies in the region who due not have the equipment to do them as quickly or efficiently as us.

* Vermiculite is must easier to apply to steep side walls & will not wash away with changes in water tables.
**  Vermiculite forms a monolithic, permanent, cast and will always remain in place.
***  Vermiculite becomes an insulating barrier from the cold temperatures of the soil beneath it.

The pictures in this article were from Racine, Merton, Sussex, and Waukesha.

This step is perfectly functional and will last for 30+ years, however it doesn’t jump out and say “look at me”.  While white walk-in steps are common, you can dress them up by having them match the liner pattern.

These steps match the liner exactly and are a really nice upgrade.  It makes the pool look more seamless and adds a certain kick from the standard white steps.

Just as a comparison, here is what the corner in-pool steps look like . . . a standard on all inground swimming pools that have an auto cover.

If you are really looking to get custom Penguin Pools can fabricate any type step you want out of steel and have the liner go over it.  This allows you to do benches, wading areas for children, sun ledges . . . the options are endless.

You can see that the customer above wanted the feel of a walk-in step, but didn’t want the standard white.  He wanted it to look custom and have the entire pool flow seamlessly.   The step is centered between his gazebo and deck perfectly (actually we are off by about 1.5 inches).

Here our customer wanted a true Double Roman swimming pool, so we constructed a custom steel roman step for him.  The step is seamless in its design and looks great at any view.

This Penguin Pools customer wanted to have an auto cover with a completely custom pool step.  We designed a step that went into the corner of the pool & then had the second riser extend as a bench the entire width of the pool.  This pool has all the benefits of an auto cover and still has a custom step with the vinyl liner going over it.

Please feel free to contact Penguin Pools of Milwaukee if you have any questions regarding custom steps for your inground vinyl liner pool.  We have steps located in Elm Grove, Muskego, Waterford, Harland, Brookfield, Menomonee Falls, Waukesha, Big Bend, Kenosha, Pingree Grove . . .

Penguin Pools often comes across rock or bad fill in many newer subdivisions.  Builders take fill from one site and put it on another site until they don’t have any more sites to hid the fill.  Rock and buried construction trash makes building an inground pool very challenging.  When building a vinyl liner pool, the walls have to sit on virgin ground so there is no worry about settling.  When you hit soil or earth that doesn’t hold its form / collapses, you need to find away to create virgin soil.

In the Milwaukee, WI area we hit clay or rock 90% of the time.  Rock is most common in the Waukesha, Merton, Hartland, Sussex areas; however we have had poor conditions in Waterford, Menomonee Falls and Brookfield areas.

The way Penguin Pools of Milwaukee & Minneapolis builds vinyl liner pools on rock is fairly simple.

1.  Dig your pool like normal to spec.  The earth will fall and crumble making your dig shelf and ramps useless . . . Like the above picture.
2.  Order Traffic Bond (usually 1/4″ with fines) and fill in the hole you just dug.  This is the same material that gets compacted under your concrete flat work.
4.  Once you pool dig is level along the entire dig shelf, leave it sit until it is completely dry.  It is usually fine to work with the next day, but may take up to 24 hours.

5.  Now you can re-dig your pool to specs and the walls will hold.  The compacted TB dries like concrete and you now have virgin ground to build on.  Your vinyl liner inground swimming pool will not settle or have issues due to poor soil.  Just be aware that hand forming will be difficult due to the strength of the compacted TB.

***  Just an FYI, this requires a lot of TB 10 – 15 full dump trucks (quads).  Don’t worry, this can then be used as backfill if you so choose.

Here is another slideshow of a pool we did in 2004.

Many pool builders will just use a patch to cover a wound.  Using vermiculite to patch voids is an easy and cheap way to rectify the problem, however it isn’t the correct way to do it.  You need to create the correct earth to build on so your pool will not have issues 5, 10, 30 years down the road.  This costs more, but it is the correct way to do it and will prevent you from having to pre-maturely get a vinyl liner replacement on your swimming pool.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Penguin Pools of Milwaukee or Minneapolis.

Many inground pool builders don’t give customers the options to maximize your shallow end.  You may think that the amount of shallow end doesn’t matter, but think about it.  How often do you stand in an inground pool and not have to tread water?  Most people jump in, swim a little bit then go to the shallow end or a part of the pool that they can stand.  Face it, we aren’t all Michael Phelps in the pool and we need to stand.

To make things even more exciting, you can create a sport pool which puts the deep end of the pool in the middle . . . great for volleyball and basketball setups.  This has recently become common place, but you would be surprised how many pool builders will not do this or even offer it to their customers.

Penguin Pools  in Milwaukee & Minneapolis allow you to customize every part of your pool depth and layout.  We personally recommend maximizing your shallow end for maximum enjoyment.  You will never stand in the deep end of an 8′ deep pool, so why make it so big.  Penguin Pools is about safety first, so we always make sure our dig specs meet Federal Regulations for diving envelopes.  Basically the pool has to be a particular depth and the ramp a particular angle.

Here you can view a standard shallow end.
Here is the same pool with a larger shallow end, both meet regulations for diving boards.  The extra footage in the shallow end really make a big deal on even smaller pools like a 16′ x 32′.

Penguin Pools also likes to put in safety ledges for all of our pools that have smaller children.  A safety ledge is a walking platform all the way around a pool that is the same depth as the shallow end 3′ – 3.5′.  Now when a child jumps into the pool, wherever they are, only have to get to the side of the pool to stand.  They no longer have to swim all the way to the shallow end.  While most safety ledges are 12″ wide, Penguin Pools can also put a safety ledge in a pool regulated for diving.  Instead of the 12″ wide, it can only be 6″ to meet Federal Regulations.
To give you even more to think about, we can put a safety ledge on certain walls.  Here you can view a pool that Penguin Pools of Milwaukee did that had a safety ledge on the back wall and is rated for a diving board.

If you have any concerns that your pool builder can’t do a custom dig, they shouldn’t be building your pool.  Penguin Pools of Milwaukee & Minneapolis will and can provide you with custom dig specs before you even sign the dotted line.  We will create the pool of your dreams, regardless of how deep it is.

Penguin Pools has custom dig specs throughout SE WI, we have very few “standard” digs for our swimming pools throughout Waukesha, Waterford, Brookfield, Menomonee Falls, Muskego, Merton, Hartland . . .

Public pools across the country are open for the summer season, but a recent survey could make you think twice about jumping in. According to the poll, almost half of swimmers admit to one or more behaviors that contribute to an unsanitary pool. And you’ve probably suspected as much, since the poll also shows 84 percent of us believe our fellow swimmers participate in unhygienic pool behavior.

THE DETAILS: The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted in late April and early May of this year by the Water Quality and Health Council, a body of scientific and other experts who advise the American Chemistry Council, an industry trade association. One in five respondents (17 percent) admitted to urinating in the pool, while almost eight in ten (78 percent) are convinced that their fellow swimmers are guilty of this act. Plus, about a third (35 percent) jump in without showering first, and three-quarters (73 percent) think other swimmers do the same. Even though most people seem wary of the hygienic standards of the swimmers around them, only 36 percent say that pool water cleanliness is on their mind when they take the plunge.

WHAT IT MEANS: Besides being just plain gross, filthy pool practices can lead to unsafe swimming conditions. Urine—as well as sweat and even sunscreen—contain nitrogen, which eats up a pool’s free chlorine. Free chlorine is what kills waterborne germs that could make you sick if ingested. So if too many people are peeing in the pool or diving in while sweaty, that could mean less chlorine’s available to wipe out nasty critters.

Even when chlorine levels are at proper levels, some illness-causing organisms can survive. For example, about two-thirds of all recreational water illnesses (or RWIs) are caused by Cryptosporidium, a chlorine-resistant microorganism that causes diarrhea. “Crypto can survive for as many as 10 days, even in a well-maintained pool,” says Michele Hlavas, epidemiologist in the Division of Parasitic Diseases for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Which is why swimmers need to take on some of the responsibility for maintaining the safety of their pools. “Pool operators can’t do it all by themselves, as it’s the swimmers who bring the parasites into the water,” says Hlavas. “Swimmers have to get invested in keeping their pool clean and keeping themselves healthy.”

Here are a few tips to help you protect yourself, and other swimmers, from pool-related illness:

Don’t swim if you have diarrhea.

It sounds like common sense, but it bears repeating. And don’t send your kids to the pool if they’ve been having stomach problems.

Get to know your pool operator.

Showing you care about pool cleanliness can ensure that certain standards are met. Ask pool management about the training employees receive to operate and keep the pool clean, and how often they check the chlorine and pH levels of the water (both should be checked at least twice per day, more often on crowded days). You can also ask about how they fared on the most recent inspection, and how they’re correcting any problems that were uncovered.

Test the water yourself.

Inspectors aren’t on site every day, so what’s happening when they aren’t around? To find out, the CDC recommends purchasing easy-to-use testing strips at a local hardware or pool supply store, and measuring the pH and chlorine levels before swimming. The pH should be between 7.2 and 7.8, and there should be 1 to 3 parts per million of free chlorine in the water, according to CDC standards.

Don’t swallow pool water.

Don’t even swish it around in your mouth! You don’t have to swallow large amounts of contaminated water to get sick.

Shower before swimming.

Shower with soap and water before entering the pool so you don’t bring anything unhealthy in to the water. Don’t think you need to? Consider this fun fact: The average person has about 0.14 grams of feces on their bottom! Parents should also wash their children before swimming.

Check diapers often.

And make sure older children take regular bathroom breaks when swimming. It’s also important to change diapers in the bathroom, or other designated changing areas, and never on the pool deck or anywhere near the water.

Know the signs of a clean pool.

These include clear water, smooth pool sides (no sticky or slippery tiles), and no strong odors. A well-maintained pool should have little smell of chlorine, as a strong chemical smell can actually indicate a maintenance problem. You should also be able to hear the sounds of properly functioning pool equipment, such as pumps and filtration systems.

By having your designs pre-built, we can install them quicker and for less money than if we built the whole thing from scratch.  You can combine fireplaces, wet bars,  grills, benches, tables, firepits … the options are endless.

These units really transform and inground vinyl liner pool into something great.

The great thing is that Harmony is located in WI so it has distributors like us (Penguin Pools) in Waukesha, New Berlin, Merton, Waterford, Brookfield, & Sussex.

If you have any questions or would like Penguin Pools to give you a free estimate, don’t hesitate to contact us directly.

Rule #1 :: If you are putting in an inground swimming pool, never use sand.  If you are talking to a builder who only uses sand, politely say thanks and escort him out of your house.  Using sand is easier, less expensive, less messy; but it is also just being lazy, suck in 1980, and not good for the end user.  Simply put, you are working with someone who isn’t concerned with making the best pool possible.

Strong Pool Krete is made up of Portland cement, vermiculite, and sand.  When all three are combined and troweled out, you get a strong smooth surface for your liner to lay on.  Pool Krete will setup and turn into a hard “cork board” for your liner.

When using sand under your vinyl liner is doesn’t hold its form as well as Vermiculite.  The sand takes years to get fully packed down and not move anymore.  HOWEVER, before it packs down you can feel waves and even make indentations with your heel in the sand.  I am sure that you have been swimming in a pool when you felt their was a gap under your feet.  That is from the substrate, sand, moving or creating divots.

Some people, not many anymore that I know of, that also use concrete under the liner.  While concrete is strong, it is very rough and grainy.  The concrete can never get as smooth as the vermiculite and in turn it will slowly rub the underside of the liner making it weak.
You may not feel it, but each time you take a step on the liner it will move a little.  If you don’t have a smooth surface it will rub the bottom of the liner raw.

Above ground swimming pools are generally less expensive and move for the budget minded consumer.  Adding sand to the bottom is usually preferred as it is less expensive.  Using Pool Krete instead of sand is going to cost about $1,000 – $1,500 instead of the $300 for the sand.

Using sand in an above ground pool is more acceptable as it is more budget minded.  Inground pools need to last for 50+ years and more times the vermiculite will only need minor patching each time you replace the liner . . . every 15 or so years.

Simply put, if you want a perfect bottom for years to come use Pool Krete on your pool bottom.  When it is done, and done correctly, you will see how perfect the liner will fit.
Penguin Pools is so dedicated to perfect pool bottoms, that we have a specially made mixer just for Strong Pool Krete.  Most people use a simply paddle mixer, but we want and need a perfect mix so we have mixer and pump only for the Pool Krete.

Since we have a specific machine for Vermiculite, we do pools bottoms for swimming pools companies located in Waukesha, Wales, Merton, Menomonee Falls, Brookfield, and Muskego.

If you would like to purchase Strong Pool Krete and have it dropped shipped to your door, simply contact MyPoolBuild.com for your order.