Fiberglass Pools in Northeast Ohio, Priced

Most of the yards we dig in sit on glacial till: silt and clay the glaciers left behind, packed tight and slow to drain. The most widespread soil on these till plains, Mahoning silt loam, can hold a perched water table 6 to 12 inches below the surface from October through June in most years, according to the USDA soil survey. Then winter arrives. Summit County requires deck footings to reach a 38 inch frost line, which tells you how deep the cold gets into the ground here.

A pool in that ground gets pushed on from the outside by wet soil and from the inside by its own water, every year, through freeze after freeze and thaw after thaw. Fiberglass handles it well. The shell comes out of the factory in one piece, so there are no liner seams to open up and no plaster to resurface. Liberty's Crystite gelcoat is nonporous, which means water and chemicals sit on the surface instead of soaking in. It also feels smooth underfoot, which the kids notice before anyone else does.

We build vinyl liner and ICF concrete pools too, and for some yards they are the better answer. If you want a shape nobody makes in a mold, or a pool wider than 16 feet, we will steer you that way. For most families who want a good pool that stays out of their way, we think fiberglass is the right call, and we say so.

These are our published installed package prices for a selection of Liberty models. The full range runs from $68,400 to $103,900.

A package price is a real starting point you can plan around. It is not a promise about your yard, though. Tight access, standing water in the dig, rock, a long haul for the spoils, the barrier fence your town requires, more patio or a cover will each add to it. We walk the site and tell you what applies before you sign anything. Our cost guide goes through each of those items in more detail.

We keep the package complete so the pool works the day we start it up. You get Pentair equipment throughout: a variable-speed pump, a DE filter and MicroBrite color-changing LED lights. A DE filter catches finer particles than a sand filter, and a variable-speed pump can run slow and quiet for most of the day, which is where it saves on electricity.

Around the pool we pour a 4 ft concrete wrap deck, so you have a clean edge to walk on from day one. You also get a cleaning kit, starter chemicals, full installation and the electrical hook-up at the equipment pad. How the power gets from your house panel out to that pad depends on the distance and on what your panel can carry, so we look at it during the site visit and price it plainly.

Start with how you will use the pool, then check it against the lot. The 9 ft wide Enrichment comes in 17, 21 and 24 ft lengths and suits a small yard or a couple who mostly want to cool off. The 11 to 12 ft wide models, like the Victory 11x22, Virtue 12x24, Poise 12x24 and Hero 12x26, are where a lot of families land. There is room to swim a few strokes and room for kids to play without taking over the whole yard.

At 14 ft wide you have the Anthem, Relaxation, Valiant, Heavenly 14x32 and Opportunity. At 16 ft there are the Finesse, Tradition, Unity, Glory, Heavenly 16x38, Devotion and Virtuous. Those big shells need a big yard. Local setbacks shrink the usable yard, too. Hudson, for example, keeps pools at least 15 feet off side and rear lot lines, and the deck and fence still have to fit around the water. A 16x40 on a narrow suburban lot can run out of room fast.

This is why we design every pool in 3D before anything is dug. You see the shell on your actual lot, with the deck, the equipment pad and the fence line, and you can try a smaller or larger model before it costs you anything.

We follow the manufacturer's installation specifications on every fiberglass pool. That matters more here than in sandy places, because our clay does not forgive shortcuts. After the permits clear, we lay out the pool, excavate and build a level base for the shell to sit on. If the dig takes on water, and in spring it often does, we deal with that before the shell goes in instead of hoping it drains.

The shell arrives on a truck and is lifted into the hole. Once it sits level, the crew adds water inside and backfill outside together, a few inches at a time, so the pressure on the walls stays even. Latham, which makes Liberty pools, describes the same sequence, along with a sump line or daylight drain at the deep end to manage hydrostatic pressure. In wet till that drain is not optional, in our view.

Plumbing is run and pressure tested as the backfill comes up. Then we form and pour the concrete deck, set the equipment, make the electrical connections, finish grading so surface water runs away from the pool, and start the system up. The clay we dig out goes somewhere, too. Plan on seeing machines in the yard, and plan on the lawn needing some attention once we leave.

Left alone, a Northeast Ohio pool is comfortable from roughly Memorial Day to Labor Day. A heater adds weeks at both ends. A cover keeps that heat in overnight, which is when an uncovered pool loses the most. If you only add one upgrade, we would make it an automatic cover. It holds heat, keeps leaves out and covers the water whenever nobody is swimming.

In winter, a fiberglass pool stays full. It gets closed with water in it, lines blown out and equipment winterized. Draining a shell in wet ground is how pools get lifted out of place, and it is never worth the risk.

After covers, the most common requests are a spa or spillover spa, water features such as sheer descents, bubblers or waterfalls, and more patio. Some owners switch to a salt system, and some prefer a cartridge filter to the standard DE. Automation lets you run the pump, lights and heater from your phone. Because we also build patios, outdoor kitchens and retaining walls, the pool and the yard around it can be planned together instead of in two separate projects.

Ohio State Pools is veteran owned and operated. Todd Stump, the owner, has spent more than 13 years in high-end construction, including custom pools and complex structural work. Our lead designer, Mike, has been designing and building pools for over 40 years and was featured on HGTV's Pool Kings. The crew comes from construction, mechanical systems and landscaping, which is the mix a pool job needs.

"Easy to work with. Pick out your fiberglass pool and they handle the rest." Dustin S.

"The pool builder installed my fiberglass pool in record time and was very professional." Josh C.

If you plan to finance, we work with lenders to find the best rate for your situation. Our partners include PoolLoan.net and HFS Financial, which offers home improvement loans with fixed rates, no stage funding and no equity needed. Rates and terms come from the lender, so we leave those to them. It helps to have funding lined up before the design is final, so the pool you pick is one you have already planned for.