A Tale of Swimming Pool Woes!

[DavidUno]

Maybe non Zinc is the answer. There are several strengths on the market. Those that I have seen in use causing damage are Spray factor 50 and slap on of various factors up to 50. Factor 50! Better off indoors!
Nivea coated kids surviving nuclear war? Any writers out there?

[CalItal]

This is a little off topic but I'm wondering why concrete reinforced pools in Italy almost always have vinyl liners. I've been told it's to protect from water seeping through cracks in the concrete due to earth movement. As a native Californian, where the earth is known to move a bit once in awhile :-), I'm not sure why they are used in Europe but not in the US. Other areas of the US that have soil movement due to frost heaving, etc. do not use vinyl liners either. I have reservations about the use of vinyl itself as it contains known carcinogens and has a highly toxic manufacturing process. Just wondering if anyone has opinions on this. All in all it doesn't seem vinyl is worth the trouble.

[annabe]

If a pool is not lined in vynl (how on earth is it spelt?) what is it lined with?

[CalItal]

Most concrete pools in the US are finished with plaster, tile or various stone aggregate finishes. Here's a photo of the Neptune pool at San Simeon in California done with mosaics mostly from Murano.

Neptune Pool on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[juliancoll]

It's not just about land movement - it's also about price. Vinyl is far cheaper.

[CalItal]

Yes, I figured price was a big factor.

[anne2]

I understood that it was also to do with the extremes of temperature experienced in much of Italy, during winter it is so cold that tiles, mosaics etc have a habit of coming unstuck and popping off if any water seeped in behind!

[Charles Phillips]

Vinyl is cheaper than tiles, but more expensive than 'gunnite' or a plaster finish (painted with vinyl paint, or with some sort of waterproofer built in).

I was talking to a friend the other day who has his first vinyl lined pool, built in Italy three years ago. He was extolling the virtues of vinyl (he had had pools in SA with 'cement based' liners - aka tiles or plaster) on the basis that it was much easier to keep the pH right if you didn't have to take into account the leaching of alkalis from a non linered pool.

But then again, there are factory made vinyl liners (very smooth, rather 'glossy' and without seams) and welded liners (more orange peel effect finish, and the seams collect the dust). I'm not a plastics chemist - maybe the welded liners should be termed PVC rather than vinyl?