Each of the liners available has its own specific characteristics. It is essential to understand the advantages and possible drawbacks of each liner so that the best material is chosen for the particular type of pond you wish to build.

Polyex Liners

Polyex liners are constructed from polyethylene. They have a woven inner core which is laminated between two UV stabilised outer layers. They are exclusive to Bradshaws Direct and can be purchased with either a 25 year or 35 year guarantee. Polyex liners are the best value flexible pond liners available. This value for money is the main reason why they are consistently the best selling type of liner. They have a textured finish and, unique to Polyex, are black/brown reversible. Polyex is also incredibly light, making installing very easy, and they are much tougher and more durable than they may first appear. Polyex liners have no elasticity and are not as puncture resistant as some other liners.

PVC Liners

PVC liners are sold at 0.5mm thick with a 30 year guarantee and 1mm thick with a lifetime guarantee.

PVC is a well-known and recognised liner material, making them quite popular. They are fairly light, have a very smooth, shiny finish, and have a little elasticity making them easy to fit. They are relatively cheap when compared to the rubber liners, but not quite as puncture resistant.

Butyl Liners

Swedish Butyl, or Polyisobutylene, is a type of synthetic rubber. Butyl liners are 0.75mm thick and have a lifetime guarantee. Butyl has long been regarded as the top quality choice for liner pond construction, making it a very popular and easily recognized liner for pond builders. They are very tough and puncture resistant and have a slight texture. Being rubber, they are very elastic and have great puncture resistance.

The prices of the raw ingredients used in the production of Butyl have risen in the last few years which had a knock-on effect to the cost price for customers, making Butyl an expensive, but worthy choice.

Greenseal EPDM Liners

Greenseal EPDM (ethylene propylene diene M-class) is another synthetic rubber and is generally used as a roofing material, among other applications. It too is 0.75mm thick and caries a lifetime guarantee. Greenseal (which is black, not green!) was introduced as an alternative to the ever more expensive Butyl, and in terms of quality, reliability and appearance they are almost identical. Greenseal is however produced from different ingredients, making Greenseal’s cost price lower than Butyl’s.

Firestone EPDM Liners

Firestone EPDM is a synthetic rubber liner which has a thickness of 1mm and a lifetime guarantee.These heavy duty liners are constructed from the same ingredients as Greenseal, but they are thicker which makes them more hardwearing, stronger and puncture resistant, much more so than any of the other liners.Their extra thickness makes them a little heavier and more cumbersome, and they are slightly less elastic than other rubber liners so fitting them is a little trickier, but Firestone is cheaper than Butyl and so boasts excellent value for money.