Can a new liner be laid over an old, faulty liner?

It’s a nightmare finding out that your old liner has started to leak. Maybe you wake up to find the pond empty, or you come home from work and find a heron has pierced the liner. Then you might worry about the time it will take to remove the older and install a new one. There’s a lot of work to be done.

In most cases, it’s easier to lay the new liner on top as if it’s a new pond. It’s something we always recommend to people who are trying to make this process easier for themselves. But there are two important steps you must complete.

1.       Examine your old pond liner to find why it is leaking: This is important because if stones or roots have damaged the liner from underneath, you need to take action to prevent this from happening again.

2.       If the old liner seems ok and you wish to lay the new liner on top, you need to pierce some holes into the old liner. We normally recommend that you use a pitch fork or a Stanley knife to pierce the old liner. This is for drainage purposes, but also to prevent gases from building up between the old and new liners.

This process should make relining your pond much easier and it will provide the liner with additional protection, because the old liner is acting as underlay.

If your liner was damaged by tree roots, you may want to add additional underlay between the old and new liner. This increases the protection for your new liner and reduces the likelihood of the roots causing problems in the future.

If the damage was done by a Heron or wildlife, you will need to take certain steps to prevent those animals from doing any further damage. You can find our tips and tips for pest deterrents on our blog post.

If you intend on repairing the liner, please see our helpful blog post on Pond Liner Guarantees and Repairs.

If you have any other queries on this, please email us on info@pondkeeper.co.uk.