Extend Your Vinyl Liner’s Life With Simple Household and Swimming Pool Supplies

Above ground and inground pools usually make use of vinyl liners to hold the water in and keep the structure protected. They are preferable compared to other alternative swimming pool supplies – fiberglass, titles, pebbles, or paint – because of their affordability and low maintenance demands. It doesn’t take much to install, clean and repair a vinyl pool liner. And as an added advantage, they are also available in attractive pattern and treated to resist bacteria.
A vinyl liner’s life span is usually up to 10 years; lesser if the pool facility is used frequently. But it has been said that it can last for 30 years with proper maintenance. However, given that environmental and human factors can stand in the way of that achievement, you, as a pool owner, must be familiar with how to properly preserve equipment maintenance pdf the integrity of your swimming pools’ lining. Changes in temperature can stretch vinyl liners and make them sag or pop out. There are also times when direct sunlight thins out the material and makes it prone to tears. If this is the case, see to it that you implement timely intervention to prevent the problem from getting worse.
For pops, sagging or gaps, what you could do is boil kettles of water, and then pour it directly on the sagging area. Make sure to employ protection and exercise caution, so you don’t accidentally get burned. Do it slowly below the top edge, so you’d have something to hold on to. Go back and forth across the liner as you pull up the material. Adjust where you pour the water as is necessary. This may take time, since you have to do it repeatedly until the vinyl strengthens. But it is guaranteed to stretch back. After which, you must then push and twist the top edge of the vinyl so you can pin it against the metal track. Take note that the top underside has a V shaped groove which should slip perfectly. If you are having some difficulty with the adjustment, you could use a screwdriver’s head to push and hold the vinyl on the track. Be patient about the process to avoid tearing. Once completed, acquire jamming pieces (available in any swimming pool supplies store) and install them in between the top of the plastic and the metal pool rim, to guarantee that the vinyl liner will stay in place. It would be preferable if you have someone help you, so that you can work efficiently on the tasks involved.
As for tears, what you could do is apply patches. There are vinyl patch kits you can buy from swimming pool supplies stores, to avoid that costly $2000 to $3000 replacement fee. These are basically composed of water-resistant glue to help hold the patch in place and sometimes, clear patches. What you will have to do is cut the patch you have, so that it is about 4 inches longer and wider than the tear. Then cut the …

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3 Toxic Household Cleaning Supplies and Their Alternatives

Many of the classic household cleaning supplies that were used by our parents and their parents before them are fairly toxic. These days we’re more aware of the hazards, but not always sure of how to avoid them. These are some of the problem cleaning supplies and how you can replace them. It’s often surprisingly simple.
1. Bleach
Bleach is certainly powerful as a cleaner, and there are times when you have little other choice for getting rid of mildew. But for routine cleaning it’s really more power than you need.
Bleach is an irritant. If you’ve used it, you know this already. The fumes are uncomfortable to breathe. They aren’t good for you or for your children. On top of that, the labels even warn you about too much contact with bleach.
Replace with: Lemon juice. For many purposes, lemon juice does a very good job. Natural sunlight is also great at bleaching out certain stains. They aren’t as strong, but for most purposes they’re quite good enough.
2. Ammonia
Ammonia is often used in glass cleaners as well as other surface cleaners. Just as with bleach, the fumes are rather unpleasant, and if you read the label you can see that it’s hazardous.
Replace with: Vinegar. It’s not the most appealing of smells, but the scent dissipates as it dries, and it does a fair job of taking other scents with it. Vinegar works great on glass and other hard surfaces, and can be combined with baking soda for many cleaning chores.
3. Air Fresheners
You may love the way air fresheners smell, but their ingredient list may be enough to drive you out of the house. They may contain chemicals such as 1,4 dichlorobenzene, types of factory machines formaldehyde, naphthalene and other VOCs that can cause respiratory effects. These can be a problem if anyone in the house has asthma or other breathing issues.
Beyond that, they don’t usually actually freshen air. They often deaden cell therapy process development your ability to smell or simply cover up one smell with another.
Replace with: Open windows are ideal, weather permitting. If not, boil some favorite herbs or some apple peels on the stove, or spray vinegar in the air. Any of these will help with household odors.
Since many products don’t list ingredients, your best bet is to avoid cleaning products that say “Caution.” “Danger” or “Warning” on them. These will have some sort of hazardous chemical you should try to keep out of your house as much as possible.
Products with specific environmental benefits listed are better than ones claiming to be green with no claimed benefits at all. If it says biodegradable, does it say how soon? Are there no phosphates in it? If there’s a clear statement of the benefit, there’s more likely to be something to it. “Natural” and “eco-friendly” don’t mean a thing on their own.…

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