Measuring Mistakes, Vinyl Inground Pool Liners

Our pool liner pros have compiled a list of the top 10 most common mistakes made when measuring vinyl inground pool liners. Take care to not to make these same mistakes when measuring your vinyl pool liner.

• Assuming standard specs for any part of a pool (i.e.: Pool Wall Heights, Corners, Depths, Liner Bead Types, etc.) when most pool liner companies have multiple standards, and the liner manufacturer will not know the one you are dealing with. Remember that there are over 3 corner types, 10 corner sizes and 10 pool wall heights that are considered standard by someone.
• Not using the manufacturers pool liner measuring sheets. All manufacturers have invested heavily in hardware and software to improve the accuracy and throughput of their pool liner design and cutting departments, and their vinyl pool liner measuring sheets have been set up to work with their software. Not using the manufacturer’s pool liner measuring sheets can and will create unnecessary errors and delays in processing your orders. ALWAYS completely fill in your vinyl inground pool liner measuring sheets.
• Not consistently using the same measuring units. Use Imperial Units (Feet & Inches preferred not inches alone) or Metric Units. This makes it easier to check additions of profiles ((shallow end + front slope + pad + back slope must = length of pool), (and left side slope + pad + right side slope must = width).
• Incorrectly measuring the swimming pool Wall Heights and pool Depths. All swimming pool depths must be based on the location of the pool liner bead receptor. Pool wall heights should be from the pool liner bead receptor to where the pool floor meets the pool wall. Deeper depths should be taken in several places, the most important being the corners of the pool pad based on the slopes you have provided.
• Miss-measuring or not measuring break locations. Break locations on Lazy-Ls, Square-Ls, Kidneys, etc… are used by the manufacturer to determine where to start or stop adding in material for changes in depths of your swimming pool.
• Not providing diagonals to confirm the pool is square. An swimming pool can be far enough out of square, but not visible to the human eye, to cause fitting problems. This mistake occurs most often with Rectangles, Grecians, Lazy “L”s, and Square “L”s pool kits. Always check diagonals and show them on the swimming pool liner measuring sheets.
• Adjusting measurements. Do not adjust measurements taken of the swimming pool – Inground pool liner manufacturers do that for you when they create the cutting specs for your pool liner.
• Not providing a separately measured perimeter on shaped swimming pools. Perimeters are used for checking CAD plots for Kidneys, Figure-8s, Cloverleafs, etc… It is also used to spot check finished vinyl swimming pool liners.
• Not measuring vinyl covered pool steps fully. All the risers should add to the pool wall height and all treads should add to the stair depth. Do not forget to measure the length of the stair as well (they are not all 6’ long). Other information needed on pool stairs is the corner detail on the top tread, whether or not there is a set back from the swimming pool wall and it’s detail, and if you require loops to hold the stair in place.
• Stating the hand of a pool (i.e., Right or Left) without taking into consideration the swimming pool liner manufacturers requirements. Do not confuse Reverse End Pools with reverse pools. Reverse is used by some companies to indicate opposite hand to their standard plans. Reverse End is used to indicate that the deep end of a pool is being switched with the shallow end on pools that have differences between the two. Always give the finished hand after the ends are reversed – some vinyl inground pool liners are more complicated than others so a sketch is always helpful!

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Buying vinyl inground pool liners online will save you thousands of dollars when compared to buying a pool liner from your local installer or pool builder, so don’t be scared you can do it! If you have questions about how to measure vinyl inground pool liners or need help placing your order please feel free to give us a call. Our pool liner pros have years of experience and can help walk you through the ordering process.

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