Liberty Merit Kidney Fiberglass Pool, Installed

Liberty calls the Merit a simple freeform with an easy, almost breezy feel, and that is a fair description. It is for the family that wants a classic curved pool, the kind that looks like it belongs in a backyard with mature trees and a lawn that rolls down to it, rather than a modern rectangle lined up with the house.

It also gives you a lot of pool for the money. At about 10,000 gallons, it holds as much water as the 14 by 30 Relaxation, and its package price is $6,000 lower. If a wide, roomy pool matters more to you than a tanning ledge or a spa, the Merit deserves a look.

Liberty tags the Merit with swim-up seating and multiple entry and exit points. The floor runs from 3 ft 7 in at the shallow end to 5 ft 10 in at the deep end, so most adults can touch bottom nearly everywhere and kids have a big shallow area to play in. It is non-diving.

A kidney shape has a natural inside curve, and that curve is where people end up. It is the spot for the seating in the water and, on the deck, the obvious place for a couple of chairs and a table. We usually plan the patio around it.

With our 4 ft deck, the Merit takes roughly 22 by 36 ft. A kidney is easier to fit around obstacles than a rectangle of the same size, which helps on older lots in towns like Kent, Tallmadge or Cuyahoga Falls, where a big maple or an old garage tends to sit right where a pool would go.

Setbacks still come first. Stow asks for 10 ft from side and rear lot lines. Strongsville asks for 15 ft from any lot line and applies it to the equipment as well as the pool. We draw the setback lines, the fence and the pad on the 3D design so you can see what the yard allows before you choose.

One tradeoff: curved pools are harder to fit with a standard track cover. If an automatic cover is a must for you, a rectangle like the Opportunity or Valiant is the easier path.

The package includes the Liberty shell and full installation, a Pentair variable-speed pump, a Pentair DE filter, a pool heater, Pentair MicroBrite color-changing LED lights, a 4 ft concrete wrap deck, a cleaning kit, starter chemicals and the electrical hook-up at the equipment. Every pool gets a 3D design first, and we handle the permits.

We price the site-specific items after a visit: the barrier fence, extra decking, spoils haul-off, dewatering if groundwater fills the dig, and the power run from your panel to the pad. On an older lot with mature trees, access for the crane is part of that conversation too.

A heater and a safety cover are the usual pair on a curved pool in Ohio. A rock waterfall or bubblers suit the kidney shape well. Many owners wrap the inside curve with a wider patio, and some add a fire pit a few steps back from the deck so the yard still gets used on cool September evenings.