Replacing Pool Liner With Pool Deck

by Wayne
(Danielsville, GA)

We have 16 X 28 Doughboy pool with a deck all the way around the pool. The deck wood goes right under the side rails. We cut the wood so it just goes to the side rails.

How do we replace the liner when we can't clip the liner to the top rails? Can we clip the liner to the top of the pool wall? Any help would be greatly appreciated and as soon as possible as we have been working on this for 3 days.

Thanks, Wayne Johnson.

Hi Wayne

I am going to assume a couple of things from your post. I assume you have a Doughboy brand pool. I also assume you have an overlap liner.

The liner does not clip to the top rail. The top rails need to be removed, as do the top plates, rods and coping. The new liner then gets folded over the pool sidewall and everything replaced as it was.

Most of my installs, especially Doughboy liner installs, are done this way.

Expandable Liner Installation

A pool deck poses a real problem when trying to stretch a liner into place. The ideal situation for a deck is a beaded liner. That would look like the one on this page.

Above Ground Pool, Deck and Awning

In order to do an overlap liner with a deck you have to be able to remove all of the screws. You need to be able to get the decorative top caps off, that's usually the hardest part. Once they are off I just remove all the rails, rods and coping. I get inside the pool with the new liner, open it up, and cloths pin it in place. With an oval liner it is critical to get the two center seams aligned correctly. They go from end to end and need to be perfectly centered.

The hardest part is smoothing the bottom of the liner out as stretching the liner in is so much easier. It can be done with a lot of down on the hands and knees effort.

The photo below shows the correct way to install a liner in a pool with a deck. As you can see, the deck has been moved. The pool had a deep center which made it essential to stretch the liner. A flat bottom install would look better with this method also. Moving the deck is just the best option.

deck removed from above ground pool to install liner


This page about the overlap liner overhang might be helpful also.

Vinyl Liner Overhang

Comments for Replacing Pool Liner With Pool Deck

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Jul 31, 2014
 Same Problem as Wayne
by: Barbara

We too have the same problem. I think what Wayne was asking was how to you clip the liner to the underside of the rails as you are stretching it. We have a Doughboy expandable liner with a deck under the top rails. We are cutting it back a little and hope to stretch the liner over the top rails and between the pool and the deck before filling. Usually you use clamps to hold the liner as the pool is filling to expand into the deeper end. We can't get our hands under the rail because of the deck boards. We thought we might be able to wedge something between the rail and the deck to hold the liner from slipping and moving it as the liner needs to stretch into the pool. Any other suggestions? The deck is solidly built all the way around and cannot be removed.

Hi

I seldom use clamps to hold the liner in place so that would probably not be a problem. Once in a while I may clamp the sides for a while on an oval pool to keep the wrinkles out, but not very often.

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