While most solar covers are available in standard round, oval and rectangular shapes, not all swimming pools match these basic structures. Thankfully, it does not require any fancy equipment to get the perfectly-shaped solar cover for your pool. In fact, a simple pair of scissors is all one needs to correctly fit your solar cover to your pool’s shape. However, a hasty job can result in a cover that does not fit correctly or becomes too small to completely cover all of the water. With a little patience, you too can properly fit your solar cover on your pool.
When purchasing your solar cover, make sure you order a cover large enough to fit over the longest and widest parts of your pool. Once your solar cover has arrived, we can fit your solar cover on your pool in five easy steps.
Carefully remove your new solar cover from its package and unfold it. Spread the cover over your entire pool surface. Make sure the air bubbles are face-down on the water. Use the seam lines of the cover to make sure it is lying centered and flat against your pool’s surface.
Prior to arriving at your home, your solar cover has been living in its shipping package for some time. A few hours of laying in the sun does it a lot of good to get rid of packing folds. You’ll end up with a cover that will lay flatter before cutting. Cutting before the cover is flat runs the risk of the solar cover spreading farther later on, and altering your measurements, giving you an improper fit.
Once the cover has relaxed for a few hours, actively flatten out any problem areas on the cover, getting it as flat as possible. You may wish to use a pool broom to get rid of any last wrinkles or air pockets. Take your scissors and trim the basic shape of your pool, but with approximately 4″ to 6″ of extra space on all sides to ‘turn up’ after hitting the pool wall. Make sure the cover does not move while you cut. Always check in front of and behind where you are cutting to make sure the cover has stayed in place. You may wish to get a partner to hold the cover while you work.
This time period should be as long as you can feasibly allow for the solar cover to get as flat as possible. This can range from 2 days to 3 weeks.
Take your scissors and cut the cover to your preferred size. Like with your Basic Fit cut, you may wish to have a partner hold the cover in place while you’re cutting, to ensure that the cover does not move. There is far less margin for error on this cut than there was before.
One of the most common fits is to have the solar cover sit right at the edge of the pool wall, which will fit your solar cover on your pool’s surface perfectly. Another option is to leave 2″-3″ around from the edge of the pool wall to remain folded upward on the pool edge. This can be helpful if you wish for your solar cover to help further prevent leaves and debris from entering your pool. Bear in mind that this option makes the cover slightly more cumbersome to place and remove.
