Here is a simple time lapse video showing the installation of an inground swimming pool liner.  Penguin Pools uses a water delivery service to fill our pools so it goes much quicker and allows for less problems with wrinkles.

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 » Continue reading “How to Install a Vinyl Liner in an Inground Swimming Pool (video)”

We were just notified that Penguin Pools of WI just won a design award in Region 5/6.  The award will be given to us at the MidAmerica Show on January 18th.  Penguin Pools submitted a couple of pools this year so we aren’t exactly sure which project won this year.

Thanks to everyone involved!

In this time lapse video, Penguin Pools is using Pool Krete from Strong Manufacturing to pour the bottom of an inground vinyl liner swimming pool.  By using the mixer from Strong along with their specialty pump, we are able to do the entire pool with 3 guys.
The mixer makes it so you get perfect consistency the entire time you are pouring the bottom.

When this bottom was poured it was 40 degrees out & snowing, so we » Continue reading “Pouring a Vermiculite Bottom in a Vinyl Liner Inground Swimming Pool (video)”

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 ?”

Going Green is the right thing to do, but it usually means it costs you more time &/or money.  Pentair has changed the rules a little with its Pentair IntelliFlo pumps.  The VS-3050 (VS stands for Variable Speed) now allows you to save money by using a fraction of the electricity when running your pool equipment, as a result you are “going green”.  Traditional pumps run at one, maybe two speeds, but you aren’t able to control what speed that is or the amount of water being moved.  Pentair’s VS pumps allow you to set the speed of the pump to allow for the amount of water you need to move for that application.  Why move 80 gallons a minute when your fountains need 30 gallons, or your slide needs 20 gpm?

This pump utilizes the simple fundamental law of pumps ::
Slower moving pumps consume less power! » Continue reading “Pentair’s IntelliFlo VS-3050 Changes Pump Technology – Lets Go Green”

Do you have clay as your soil base?
Do you have a high water table?
Do you just have water issues?

Water takes the path of least resistance and will essentially find any gap around your pool to fill into.  If you have a high water table or a soil base that doesn’t allow water to run through it easily, you can get what is called a “floating liner”.  When the ground water pressure is more than the water pressure inside the pool, it essentially pushes the liner off the vermiculite bottom.

The pool water in the pool didn’t have enough pressure to hold back the ground water.  While this can happen to anyone that doesn’t have enough water in the pool, it can also happen when your pool is completely full of » Continue reading “Sump Systems – The Correct Way to Prevent a Floating Vinyl Liner (video)”

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”

When it comes to inground pools, nothing changes the look from ordinary to exceptional like a good set of steps.  While most vinyl liner swimming pools come standard with fiberglass walk-in steps, they very common.  They don’t look bad and are extremely durable, but they have become common place over the years.  Also, walk-in steps aren’t idea for undertrack auto covers as they need to be perfectly square.
The easiest way to upgrade your steps is to get custom steel inground swimming pool steps.  Penguin Pools of Milwaukee and Minneapolis can custom make any size or shape step you like with our distributor Kafko Manufacturing.

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 » Continue reading “Custom Steel Inground Swimming Pool Steps”

Everyone wants an inground swimming pool build to go smoothly, but things always come up when you least expect it . . . usually when you start digging.  The biggest variable is usually what you are going to find once you start digging over 3′ in the ground. 

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.

» Continue reading “Building an Vinyl Liner Inground Swimming Pool on Rock”

Getting a custom dig or layout for your inground swimming pool isn’t hard  & shouldn’t cost you more.  Do you want your pool 8′, 6′, 3′ deep?  Depth really shouldn’t matter all that much for your pool builder.  Most builders consider 8′ deep a standard inground pool depth, anything less will take less time to dig and dump the dirt.  While depth is just one aspect of your pool, the amount of shallow end is your other main decision.

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.

» Continue reading “Custom Swimming Pool Digs, Depths, & Dig Specs”

Penguin Pools of Milwaukee is now accepting new accounts to open your inground swimming pool.  Pool openings start taking place the middle of April and run through Memorial Day.

Pricing for swimming pool openings are as follows ::
$200 for the pool opening
$75 to remove your cover

Generally most pools have to be drained some as the winter snow and spring rains fill them up past the mid point of the skimmer.  We will un-plug your return lines, return the plugs to your pump/filter/heater/chlorinator, prime your pump and to get everything running again.

Remember to dry out your cover before you store it away for the summer, you don’t want mold when you take it out next fall.

Penguin Pools also specializes in pool closings if you are also interested.  If you close your pool correctly in the fall, you will not have ANY green algae and will not need to use chemicals to get you pool clean and clear again.  If you pool company is charging you for chemicals in the fall, you shouldn’t have to USE ANY chemicals in the spring to get clear water.  When Penguin Pools opens pools that is has closed the year before, it generally has the same clarity as when we closed it!

Penguin Pools does openings throughout SE WI so we have no problem scheduling in cities like Waukesha, Milwaukee, Franklin, Greenfield, Brookfield, Menomonee Falls, Muskego, Big Bend, Hartland, Merton . . .

Contact us directly if you have any questions.

Penguin Pools of Milwaukee, WI is now pleased to announce that we are offering and installing the full line of Harmony Outdoor Living Products.  Harmony Outdoor offers modulated outdoor living spaces made from Unilock Pavers. 

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.

What to use, Vermiculite or Sand for the bottom of your vinyl liner pool?

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 » Continue reading “Strong Pool Krete (Vermiculite) or Sand?”

Seems easy enough to most pool owners, but for new owners it might be a little confusing.  Maybe confusing is the wrong word, maybe new pool owners aren’t patient enough.

A self-priming pump, by definition, is a pump which will clear its passages of air if it becomes air bound and resume delivery of the pumpage without outside attention.

If you are firing up the pump for the first time on your new inground swimming pool or if you are just opening your pool for the year, you will have to prime your pool pump.

1. Make sure your pump is turned off and slowly open the lid of the pump.  The lid to the pump is more than likely clear.  Opening the pump lid slowly is important as it is more than likely under pressure.  When you open it, you will hear the air “hiss” out.
2. Make sure there is no debris or “stuff” in the basket of the pool pump, if there is remove it.  If you pump is old and the basket is starting to break or fall apart, REPLACE IT.  A broken pump basket will allow debris to get to the impeller of the pump . . . not a good thing.
3. If you have multiple suction lines (skimmers, main drains) close them all off but one.  I prefer to close all the valves except the main drain as the main drain will have less air in it than a skimmer line.  Now get a bucket of water (2-3 gallons) or a hose to fill up the pump with water.  The water will go into the pump and fill up going back down the plumbing line that has been left over. » Continue reading “How to Prime Your Swimming Pool Pump?”

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”