Liberty Poise 12x24 Fiberglass Pool, Installed

Liberty calls the Poise a modern take on the traditional freeform, defined by its wide, elegant entry stairs. Those stairs are the point. They are a place to sit with your feet in the water, a gentle way in for grandparents and a play area for small kids. On a lot of pools, the steps are an afterthought tucked in a corner. On the Poise they are the front porch.

It suits couples and young families on typical suburban lots, and people who want a curved pool without the old-fashioned kidney look.

Liberty tags the Poise with swim-up seating, a wading area and multiple entry and exit points. The floor runs from 3 ft 9 in to 5 ft 4 in, so it is standing depth for most adults. At about 5,600 gallons it is one of the lighter pools we install, which keeps chemical use and pump run time down. It is non-diving.

For comparison, the Virtue is about the same outline, 12 ft 3 in by 23 ft 11 in, but a kidney shape with about 6,000 gallons. The Poise costs $3,700 more in our packages, and what you are paying for is mostly that wide stair entry and the more modern curve.

With our 4 ft deck, the Poise needs roughly 20 by 32 ft. That fits most suburban backyards once setbacks are marked. The Village of Silver Lake, for example, only allows pools in the rear yard and 10 ft from each lot line. Stow also uses 10 ft. Strongsville uses 15 ft from every lot line and applies it to equipment, which pushes the pad toward the house.

The freeform outline gives us room to turn the pool so the stairs face the house or the sun, whichever matters more to you. We try both in the 3D design before you decide. Curved pools are harder to cover with a standard automatic track cover, so a safety cover is the usual choice.

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, plus the 3D design and permits.

Priced after the site visit: the barrier fence, extra decking, spoils haul-off, dewatering if needed and the run from your panel to the pad. On a compact pool, those items can be a bigger share of the total, which is worth knowing when you set a budget.

Lighting is the upgrade that suits the Poise best. A light near the stairs makes the entry glow at night. A heater and a safety cover come next, then bubblers on the stairs and a wider patio at the entry end so the pool and the seating area read as one space. Because the Poise holds only about 5,600 gallons, a heater brings it up to temperature faster than a larger pool, which makes early June swims far more likely in a Northeast Ohio spring.