Best Above Ground Pool Liners: In Depth Review 2024
Swimming pool liners are one of the most important above ground pool equipment for pool owners, yet more importantly, they hold the water in the pool! A new pool liner and a few nicer pool pieces of equipment can completely renovate and restore any sorry looking pool.
Thousands of pool liners each year have been supplied to pool owners just like you with easy installation procedure to fit their demand. You can choose from a wide range of colors and patterns. These pool liners vary with thickness.
A thicker pool liner is less likely to rupture, can hide your pool floor unevenness better. Moreover, it has a longer life span. Pool liners that are dark in color with whirl patterns can conceal dirt and debris better than solid blueliners. We will help you decide the best pool liner color also.
Here we have listed out varieties of pool liners for above ground pools like -overlap, beaded, uni-bead and expandable liners. The above ground pool liner replacements come in different shapes like round, oval and rectangular pool sizes. To fit your exact pool shaped like a glove, custom made ground pool liners are designed from your basic pool measurements.
Spring is briskly approaching, which means it may be time for many of you to start giving some thoughts to changing your above ground pool liner. Wondering what gauge pool liner is the best?
Luckily, you only need a few rudimentary pieces of information to make sure the liner you buy fits properly. At first, you’ll need to categorize which type of liner your pool needs, and then just take a few measurements to determine the size.
What kind of above ground liner does your pool need?
Defining what kind of liner your pool requires is an essential first step. There are 3 styles of above ground liners: overlap, beaded and uni-bead.
Overlap Style above ground pool liner
Overlap style liners are wrapped over the pool wall and held by plastic coping strips. Above ground pool, top rails are then installed over the coping strips. Overlap liners are generally aimed to have some extra material. You can buy your overlap liner by taking your pool size and depth into account; both round and oval overlap pool liners are available in the market.
Beaded Style above ground pool liner
Beaded liners have a hard edge, called a “bead”, which goes around the highest point of the liner and snaps into a track which is known as a “bead recipient”, that goes around the top of the pool. You may need to look up underneath the top rail to see the thick edge or bead going into a track, and not over the pool wall.
Uni-bead or J-Hook Style above ground pool liner
Uni-bead or J-Hook styled liners highlight a heavy gauge hook, molded like the curvy letter (J), around the highest point of the liner. This hook slips over the edge of the pool wall without the requirement of plastic coping strips or bead recipients. They might be called Hung liners since they hold the divider tight with a thick J-shaped hook.
Measuring the parameters of your Pool
In most cases, the quantities you’ll need to measure are pretty simple. For a flat bottomed pool, you are required to measure the length, width and wall height. Similarly for an oval pool the length and width mean measuring the highest and widest points, and for a circular pool that simply means measuring the diameter, or the distance across of the pool through the middle.
Wall height measurement is an essential step while estimating the size of your pool, especially vital in the case of beaded and uni-bead liners because if the liner is not sufficiently tall it won’t be up to the mark, and if it is excessively tall it will not fit properly and may collapse out of the track and form floor wrinkles.
To measure the height of the whole pool you need to measure the wall from the very bottom of the wall to the very top. You must be careful that you do not start measuring the wall height from the top of the pool cove. You have to start from the top and go all the way to the floor. In the case of beaded liners, you have to measure from the floor to the height of the track.
What is an Expandable Liner?
Sometimes the surface below an above ground pool is dug out in the middle areas. So in this kind of pools, you will require an expandable pool liner. In addition to the standard measurements, you’ll have to measure from the deepest part of the mid areas to the top of the wall to determine the total depth.
You must be aware of the fact that these expandable liners are only for pools with deep middles. This means the pool is almost shaped like a bowl with a flat bottom around the walls that gradually gets curved towards the center of the pool.
What are On-Ground Liners?
If you have a four-sided above ground pool, with a flat bottom, odds are you have a Kayak, Olympic or Fanta-Sea pool. These are often known as On-Ground pools and are built with an entire surrounding pool deck made up of aluminum. These On-ground pools use a beaded liner. If this sounds familiar, take a look at some on-ground pool liners.
What else do you need to replace with your above ground pool liner?
Here are some available liner installation accessories that you should give some thought to while ordering your new pool liner. Liner coping strips for overlap liners, liner conversion strips, Wall foam, Floor padding, Pool cove, Liner lock. While replacing your pool liner, it’s not a bad idea to replace the plastic faceplates and gaskets around your skimmer and returns.
How To Install Above ground Pool Liners?
Drain the Pool
A small submersible pump is enough to drain your pool. A pool cover pump will do, it can be acquired or leased for a day or two. To remove every last bit of water from your pool, you need to make a cut on the liner with a razor knife directly above the floor on one side, and lift one half of the liner off the floor.
Take out the Old Liner
With the help of a screwdriver or cordless drill, you will have to remove the screws on the skimmer and return faceplate. For an overlap liner, you may have to get rid of the top rail, to be able to remove the coping strips. But if this can be avoided, they are better off left in place. For beaded or uni-bead liners, simply lift and draw to remove the liner from the highest point of the wall. Then you cut up the liner into strips and roll them up and set them out for recycling.
Floor & Wall Prep
While installing your above ground pool liners you can wipe your wall clean if they have any dusty, grumpy deposits. But if there are rusty deposits, then you may have to scrape, paint and then cover with wall foam for optimum pleasure. Wall dips or cavities can normally be straightened out with a heavyweight hammer and two 2×4’s, one for each side of the wall.
Most above ground pools have sand floors. Generally, they use flat trowels to smooth out the sand. After shaving off high spots and filling low spots, if you have weeds, rocks or algae in the sand, it’s best to replace them with fresh fine sand or install Liner Shield or floor padding.
Unpack And Arrange the New Liner
With 1 or 2 aids, you need to open the liner carefully over the pool and over the wall for overlap and uni-bead liners. However, for beaded liners, you can lock it into the track. Once you hook the liner in place in several locations around the pool, work around the pool, adjusting and evenly attaching the rest.
Overlap liners usually take the help of coping strips to grip the liner in place. You need to pull the liner over the wall up until it’s just off the floor by 1-2 inches only, and then snap on the strips. For beaded and uni-bead liners, just open and place the liner in place, and pull out any floor wrinkles toward the wall.
Fill the Pool with Fresh Water
You’re almost done setting up your liner in place. Fill the pool using one or two garden hose. You must keep a close eye on overlap liners to be sure that they don’t slide down the wall. You can go on filling the pool all the way to the top before proceeding to the next step.
Install New Faceplates & Gaskets
When you have placed the liner in place, you can screw on your skimmer and return faceplates. You need to tighten them as hard as you can. Once they are tight and firm, use a razor knife to cut out the vinyl left inside of the faceplate.
So, if you are thinking of how much money you are going to spend on your above ground liner, make sure that it is enough to buy a quality one. It must have the strain withstanding capacity that your pool requires.
Here we’ve reviewed the top 7 best above ground pool liners on the market in 2019.
When readers of this site buy through our link, as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Therefore this affiliate commission never biased our product recommendation. Our motto is to promote the best products for consumers, through detailed research and market analysis.
Best Above Ground Pool Liners: Our Pick
This Liner model is a uni-Bead type of liner. It contains a j-shaped hook which slips over the topmost edge of the pool wall without the requirement of plastic coping strips or bead recipients. Its pattern is a combination of triangle and rhombus shapes coming together to form a chevron wave pattern which looks extremely pleasant after installation. The best temperatures to install would be between 70-80 degrees to reduce excess wrinkling.
Pros
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Durability – It’s made up of extremely heavy duty material known as virgin vinyl. Virgin Vinyl is of the purest grade specially crafted for durable operation. Due to the purity of the material it is way more quiet than standard vinyl with less clicks and pops.
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25 year Long Warranty- The liner has a 25-year limited warranty against manufacturer material defects. But it doesn’t cover any usage defects.
Cons
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These warranties only work in case of manufacturer defects such as vinyl seam separation. You cannot avail warranty in case of a puncture.
What are the customers saying?
Most of the customers rated this particular liner 5 out of 5 stars due to its easy installation. They pretty much set them up all by themselves. And most of them were very happy after this purchase as compared to their neighbors. You ask why? It’s because of its flawless and attractive design.
This particular boulder Swirl above ground overlap pool liner is very durable and very easy to install as well. The material that is used for the product provides maximum protection from Ultraviolet rays and superior durability as compared to other materials.
If your pool has a liner clip underneath the top ledge, then overlap liner is the absolute choice for you. After using this liner your pool will have a bottomless appearance with the rolling water along the floor of this Swirl Bottom liner.
Pros
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Durability – It’s made up of extremely heavy duty material known as virgin vinyl. Virgin Vinyl is of the purest grade specially crafted for durable operation.Due to the purity of the material it is way more quiet than standard vinyl with less clicks and pops.
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Lamiclear technology -This particular technology provides years of protection against scrape, corrosion due to chemicals and Ultra violet fading.
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Tuscan wave design- The combination of triangle and rhombus shapes coming together to form a chevron wave pattern which looks extremely pleasant after installation.
Cons
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Few customers complain about receiving faulty products so you must check out the product carefully and decline accepting it at any cost, if you feel like your product has been tampered with.
What are the customers saying?
A verified buyer described this product as one of the best above ground liners available in the current market. He also said he loved this pool liner! He had bought it for his 25 foot round above ground pool. It Fit perfect and looked beautiful.
He said they normally go for the plain blue but this time they had wanted something a little dressier.They have had this liner in for 2 years now with no issue. He also suggested to get the elephant pad and put that down before you install this liner.
This Liner model is a uni-Bead type of liner. It contains a j-shaped hook which slips over the topmost edge of the pool wall without the requirement of plastic coping strips or bead recipients. Its pattern is a combination of triangle and rhombus shapes coming together to form a chevron wave pattern which looks extremely pleasant after installation. The best temperatures to install would be between 70-80 degrees to reduce excess wrinkling.
Pros
-
Durability – It’s made up of extremely heavy duty material known as virgin vinyl. Virgin Vinyl is of the purest grade specially crafted for durable operation.Due to the purity of the material it is way more quiet than standard vinyl with less clicks and pops.
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Universal Gasket Set Included- The included kit functions as a skimmer in the pool which removes various organic and inorganic garbage from the pool. Some even refer to it as Gutter of a swimming pool. This helps in prevention of corrosion inside the pool wall and you need to replace each time a new liner is here to prevent leaks.
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Tuscan wave design- The combination of triangle and rhombus shapes coming together to form a chevron wave pattern which looks extremely pleasant after installation.
Cons
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Few customers complain the liner being too thin and colour being too fade.
What are the customers saying?
A happy buyer of this product described it as an excellent purchase and also said that this was a good sturdy liner and had come with a gasket set for the skimmer set up which was included free, excellent price for the heavier gauge(thicker) material. It was very well packaged, it’s fairly heavy so packaging was important for something you expect to hold water.
These particular boulder Swirl above ground overlap pool liners are very durable and very easy to install as well. The material of the product provides maximum protection from Ultraviolet rays and superior durability in comparison to other materials.
If your pool has a liner clip underneath the top ledge, then overlap liner is the absolute choice for you. After using this liner your pool will have a bottomless appearance with the rolling water along the floor of this Swirl Bottom liner.
Pros
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Worth the Price- It comes with double welded seams which provide double the durability and strength than its competitors.
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20 year Long Limited Warranty- The liner has a 25-year limited warranty against manufacturer material defects. But it doesn’t cover any usage defects.
Cons
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Few customers complain the liner being too thin and colour being too fade.These warranties only work in case of manufacturer defects such as vinyl seam separation. You cannot avail warranty in case of a puncture.
What are the customers saying?
One of the satisfied customers said that this was an absolutely beautiful swimming pool liner. They followed the directions and installed it on a day that was not too warm but not too cold either. After just a short time in the Sun, the folds had flattened out really well. The color was beautiful and they liked the design. The small squares on the bottom hid any leftover wrinkles really well.
This Liner model is a uni-bead type of liner. It contains a j-shaped hook which slips over the topmost edge of the pool wall without the requirement of plastic coping strips or bead recipients. It contains different shades of blue in it, which makes it extremely attractive to look.
Its material is hand folded to reduce the wrinkling of the liner material. However, users are advised to put it out in the open sun for an hour or two so that it can stretch properly while filling the pool with water.
Pros
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Universal Gasket Set Included- The included kit functions as a skimmer in the pool which removes various organic and inorganic garbage from the pool. Some even refer to it as Gutter of a swimming pool. This helps in prevention of corrosion inside the pool wall and it needs to be replaced each time a new liner is replaced to prevent leaks.
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25 year Long Warranty- The liner has a 25-year limited warranty against manufacturer material defects. But it doesn’t cover any usage defects.
Cons
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Its marble geometric shapes at the bottom create a simple yet classic look. For some people this type of created pattern may cause dizziness in some customers.
What are the customers saying?
A verified buyer of this product on Amazon said that this liner fit almost like a glove on his pool. He praised how great the quality of the material was. He also told that it may seem a little small at the time but the heat of the sun and the weight of the water would make it fit perfectly.
These particular boulder Swirl above ground overlap pool liners are very durable and very easy to install as well. The material that is used for the product provides maximum protection from Ultraviolet rays and superior durability as compared to other materials.
If your pool has a liner clip underneath the top ledge, then an overlap liner is the absolute choice for you. However, you need to estimate your pool size before ordering the product properly so that the liner will fit with your pool firmly.
Pros
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Worth the Price- It comes with double welded seams which provide double the durability and strength of its competitors.
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Simple yet Effective- This type of liner is simplest to install and its ability to protect from harmful UV rays makes it really effective.
Cons
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Few users complained the product for being a little too dark which may be caused in the process of making it extremely heavy duty.
What are the customers saying?
Almost all the customers rated it pretty high due to its simple installation, quality and fast by sellers.
This particular liner is a beaded-type liner that uses a hard edge, called a “bead”, which goes around the highest point of the liner and snaps into a track. It is very simple to install in your pool and considered as one of the most economic liners as well. This liner comes with a special Caribbean design which makes it extremely attractive to look at.
Pros
-
Durability – It’s made up of extremely heavy-duty material known as virgin vinyl. Virgin Vinyl is of the purest grade specially crafted for durable operation. Due to the purity of the material, it is way quieter than standard vinyl with fewer clicks and pops.
-
Lamiclear technology -This particular technology provides years of protection against scrape, corrosion due to chemicals and Ultraviolet fading.
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25-year Long Warranty- Just imagine! enjoying warranty of a product on its silver jubilee? Well, fantasize no more. This beaded-type above ground pool liner comes with 25 long years of warranty privileging you with 25 years of customer support.
Cons
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These warranties only work in case of manufacturer defects such as vinyl seam separation. You cannot avail warranty in case of a puncture.
What are the customers saying?
A satisfied customer on Amazon gave it absolutely 5 out of 5 stars and he also said that after using this liner his pool looked like a tropical lagoon. A little darker than he’d have expected but he was 100% satisfied.
When readers of this site buy through our link, as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Therefore this affiliate commission never biased our product recommendation. Our motto is to promote the best products for consumers, through detailed research and market analysis.
Comparison Table of Best Above Ground Pool Liners
| Product Name | Style | Wall Height Range | Gauge | Material | Design | Warranty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smartline Caribbean Oval Liner | Beaded | 48"-52" | 25 | Virgin Vinyl | Caribbean | 25-year Limited |
| Harris Round Overlap Liner (Boulder Swirl) | Overlap | Not specified | 25 | Not specified | Boulder Swirl | Not specified |
| Smartline Stone Harbor Round Liner | UniBead | 52" | 25 | Virgin Vinyl | Marble geometric shapes | 25-year Limited |
| Smartline Swirl Bottom Round Liner | Overlap | 48"-52" | 20 | Virgin Vinyl | Swirl Bottom | 25-year Limited |
| Smartline Tuscan Round Liner | UniBead | 48" | 25 | Virgin Vinyl | Tuscan wave design | 25-year Limited |
| In The Swim Round Overlap Liner (Boulder Swirl) | Overlap | Not specified | 20 | Not specified | Boulder Swirl | Not specified |
| Smartline Laguna Round Liner | UniBead | 52" | 25 | Virgin Vinyl | Chevron wave pattern | 25-year Limited |
Buying Guide for Above Ground Pool Liner
If you decide to buy a pool liner for the above ground pool, then there are lots of things that you have to consider.
Types of Liner
There are two major types of liners that you may need. The first one is an overlap liner that is much easier to hang on the wall and is attached to plastic coping strips. Another one named beaded liners are attached to a channel named bead channel and stuck at the top of the wall. Bead liners are standard fits all the above ground pool.
Size
Size is an important aspect to look at to choose the pool liner. If you buy the pool liner disrespect to the size then the liner wind up an imperfect for the pool. It would be either smaller or larger. Now it is the matter of concern how you measure the size; the standard count of the height is assessing from the pool ground to the top line of the pool wall. In the case of the round, pool measure the parameter of the pool.
Material
The material of the pool should be tougher one so that it would not create any damage by the sharp edge of the pool or slip the liner from the pool. It should not hurt the pool with any dirt and water loss to the pool.
Usually to assess the highest benefits from the pool you have to choose the vinyl material for the pool liner. Moreover, you can use the virgin vinyl which is the most usable and well attached for the liner. This material is not manufactured from any recycled plastic rather than completely brand new material.
Thickness
Most of the pool is thick at 20 or 25 gauge. There is not too much difference between the gauge as thickness. There are several assuming factors that you can consider. Whether you want to put the liner directly on the sand or put a protective sheet of plastic below the liner. Another thing is that whether you have kids or not because to make the pool more protective you need to have a pool liner with more thickness. So, 25 gauge is accessible in this case. But remember one thing that extra thickness comes with extra cost and more effort.
Color & Design
The design and color of the pool liner are important to deal with the looks of the pool floor. It doesn’t affect the activity of the pool; just add value to the pool with its attractive design and color. But some things might be necessary to know about color and we usually make this consideration for any accessories. The plain blueliner is clearer to show the wrinkles and dark spots as there is no design to hide those. The smaller pattern design in the liner can make the user confused about the height of the pool under the water. You can use a darker liner that makes the pool floor warmer to retain heat to the pool. The design helps to increase the beauty of the pool but you should remember that this may wipe out along with time.
Installation
Whether it is easy to install or not depends on several factors like how thick it is, the installation process and the accessories. If it is thicker than the installation may require some more effort than less thick ones. You have to find some plastic strips to attach the pool liner which is stronger to attach the liner to the pool and it would be easier to affix. To make a stifle slope you may use the cove at the bottom corners of the pool before installation of the liner. Most manufacturers keep the warranty at 25 to 30 years but the factors are distributed to limited causes.
Warranty
A warranty acts like assurance in terms of the products that you purchase. Producers provide sometimes 25 years warranty for some pool liner though an above ground pool liner may live for just 10 years. The reason is sometimes to cover some unseen defects and increase the trust of the buyers. Most companies can provide a long-time warranty for highly qualified products.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a thicker pool liner better?
All that matters is Quality. A thinner but good quality pool liner can serve you without interruption. The thicker liner may come with higher cost and high effort installation. On the other side, the thinner pool liner is easy to install and it is flexible to cover whole pool ground. Flexibility is important as it protects any type of puncture or tear problem.
How do I get the wrinkles out of my above ground pool liner?
You can get rid of a wrinkle by draining the water of the whole pool. After that, you can step down the pool and push the wrinkle with the hands. Keep doing this until all the wrinkles are pushed out against the pool wall. You can start the task from the center of the pool.
How long do the above ground pool liners last?
Generally, pool liners for above ground pool lasts for 6 to 10 years, doesn’t go for long. Warranty is higher than that; maybe 25 to 30 years. But the warranty is for some allotted causes that the damage of your pool liner must fall among the causes.
Do dark pool liners make water warmer?
Technically darker color affects the temperature of the pool and it helps to retain the heat of the pool. So you can say that the darker color makes the pool water warm. It is up to you to choose among the color options. The matter is that light color pool liner can make the water seem cool and vice versa.
What color pool liner is best?
Everybody likes the deep blue color liner because the light blue can show the wrinkle clear and make the user uncomfortable. The dark blue color is also attractive and lengthy.
How often do pool liners need to be replaced?
There are some indications that when you should replace the pool liner. If you see the water level is reducing gradually then it may be the leak that occurred at the pool liner of above ground pool. So it is time to replace the pool. Another thing is the color and design or texture; if there is any change or damage then you can decide to replace the pool. Generally, for the above ground pool, the liner may need replacement within 5 to 10 years.
Are vinyl pool liners durable?
Yes, the vinyl pool liner is durable as vinyl doesn’t require any chemical additives that damage the pool. On the other hand, it is difficult for the algae or dirt to collect on the vinyl pool liner. So, it helps to maintain the tidiness of the pool.
Finally, you have to choose among lots of liners having the information about the pool itself and the several characteristics of the pool liners. All the liners of various sizes, shapes, and colors are good for a wide range of various pools. Make sure that you make the best use of pool liner by the minimum cost and maximum benefit.
Final Words
Now that we’ve covered some of the popular pool liners in the current market as well as went over some of the key things you have to consider before purchasing an above ground pool liner. One last thing to consider is that you must estimate the size of your pool firmly so that fitting will be perfect.
Read this article for preparation and installation guideline, learn more.
