Pool Cover Installation – step by step guide

Pool cover installation is not difficult and can be done by almost anyone, using every day tools and a careful patient approach.  The tools you will need are, (1) a sharp pair of household scissors. Procedure When I have gone to do a pool cover installation over the years I have always followed this procedure. The only addition I have put in for the reader is the inclusion of a helper that will make installing a pool cover so much easier. Here’s how you do it.

1. Roll out your new pool cover over the pool ensuring that it is both long enough and wide enough to cover the whole pool.
2. You will notice the panels of the pool cover are welded across the pool rather than going length ways. This will now enable you to position the pool cover by lining up the weld lines so that they are parallel with the end of the pool or alternatively be parallel with the pool cover roller tube when it is installed.
3. Take time with this positioning procedure until you are completely satisfied with how the pool cover sits on the pool. Then when you are satisfied, you can begin to “cut the pool cover in”.
4. Cutting the Pool Cover In – The most important thing to remember is slow and steady. For someone doing this for the first time, having a helper to hold the pool cover in position while you cut it in will improve you effort a great deal. Do not over commit and cut off too much at a time because obviously once it is cut off, you cannot put the piece back on again. Even if it means going around the circumference of the pool a number of times, taking only small amounts off with each pass, the quality of the end result will be very pleasing.
5. There are two methods of pool cover installation when in comes to cutting in a cover. They are (a) Flush to the water line and (b) Lapped up the sides. So which method to use: this choice, is often influenced by the type of pool you have eg: if you have a pool with straight sides and it does not have a “bull nose” coping around the pool, it is difficult to do a lapped up the sides cut with a great deal of success as the pool cover relies on the bull nose coping to stay in position. Without it, the pool cover will not remain in the the correct position. In this case, a flush to the waterline cut is the only one to do.
6. So if your pool will accommodate both styles of cut, which one is the best? As a guide, cutting a pool cover flush to the waterline make it easier to roll up whereas cutting it lapped up the sides will tend to keep out more leaves and rubbish. Depending on what would be your biggest issue will guide which way you cut the cover in .
7. To do a lapped up the sides cut in, start your cut approximately 150 mm out from the edge of the pool and go all the way around at this distance. Then try and push all sides of the cover down so that it sits neatly under the bull nose coping. If it is too long, go to 100 mm from the pool edge cut off the additional all the way around and repeat the process until the cover fits.

Pool cover installation need not be viewed as a difficult task. With patience, a methodical approach and an extra pair of helping hands, anyone can get a professional looking result.