For years, Penguin Pools of Waukesha has used duct tape on all of the seams on our pool walls when building a vinyl liner pool.  It has always been told that the tape will help keep dirt out & create a better suction for the liner vacs, so we did it.  After years of replacing liners and the duct tape that is old, brittle, and useless; we have changed our story a little.  We now silicone all of our wall joints (steel or polymer) right after we straighten the walls.

The little cavity that the silicone fills can be wiped smooth and dries in a matter of hours.  The silicone will hold strong yet it will not crack or become brittle like duct tape with temperature changes or gets wet.  Once the silicone dries, it does a couple of other things that are a nice by-product. » Continue reading “To Tape or Not to Tape . . . walls for Vinyl Liner Pools ?”

Vermiculite is the preferred base for vinyl liner swimming pool bottoms as they require a smooth, level, & nonabrasive base.  Strong is the leader in vermiculite (pool krete) for the swimming pool market.  Strong premix pool krete is easily applied and gives a perfectly formed bottom so the liner will not slip or wrinkle.  All of the pools that Penguin Pools builds in the Milwaukee, WI  and Minneapolis, MN area, have vermiculite bottoms.

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 » Continue reading “Strong Pool Krete Mixer & Pump – Vermiculite Mixer for Pool Bottoms”

Penguin Pools of Milwaukee, WI offers a full line of vinyl liner replacements.  While we specialize in inground swimming pools, we will do work on above ground pools also.

On standard rectangle or grecian pools our rate is $3,000 + water.  That includes draining the old pool, removing the liner, and up to 5 bags of patching for the bottom of your pool (vermiculite).  We will install new gaskets for your lights, skimmers, main drains, returns, and wall mounted fountains.

The vinyl liner is a standard 20 mil with a 15 year pro-rated warranty.  Upgrades can be done if you want a 30 mil liner, a solid pattern, or foam on the floor of your pool.
You can view all of our liner selections here.

» Continue reading “Vinyl Liner Swimming Pool Replacements – Milwaukee Branch”

Seems like everyone dreads getting that liner replaced, “we can wait one more year”.  It really isn’t that bad is it?

Over time an inground swimming pool’s vinyl liner will start to dry out, crack, rip, or shrink.  While that might sound like a horrible thing to happen, it really isn’t the end of the world.  Now don’t get me wrong, having a fiberglass pool that doesn’t use a vinyl liner is great but you have to pay for that upfront.

The biggest killer of vinyl liners, or any pool equipment for that matter, is unbalanced chemicals.  The more your chemicals fluctuate and “bounce” the more damage you do to your liner and equipment.  Vinyl liners and concrete pools constantly absorb chemicals, when they are balanced not much happens but when they bounce it starts to dry the liner out.

In addition to chemicals, the sun plays a large part on how long your liner will last.  People with automatic covers see their liners last longer as they always have their covers closed, the nice part of having a cover that closes in 45 seconds.  The less a sun can hit the liner the longer you will resist fading and drying out the top of your liner.

Removing and replacing a liner isn’t as » Continue reading “Inground Swimming Pool Liner Replacements – Not So Bad After All”