Liberty Tradition 16x33 Fiberglass Pool, Installed

The Tradition is for a household that wants a big pool for a crowd, not a long one for laps. Sixteen feet is the widest shell we install, and at 33 ft long the Tradition uses that width over a length that fits more yards than a 38 or 40 ft pool. Birthday parties, teenagers and a few adults on floats all fit at once.

With a deep end of 5 ft 5 in, most of the pool is standing depth for adults. That makes it good for games and for families with mixed swimming ability. It is non-diving.

Liberty tags the Tradition with swim-up seating and as auto cover ready. The floor runs from 3 ft 7 in to 5 ft 5 in. About 15,000 gallons in a 16 by 33 outline means the rectangle keeps most of its footprint as usable water, far more than the freeform Finesse of similar size, which Liberty lists at about 9,000 gallons.

Compared with its bigger brother, the Glory, the Tradition is 5 ft shorter and holds about 2,500 fewer gallons, and our package is $5,400 less. If the Glory crowds your yard, the Tradition keeps the same clean look.

With our 4 ft deck, the Tradition needs about 24 by 41 ft. Setbacks decide whether a 16 ft pool fits a suburban lot. In Stow it is 10 ft from side and rear lines. In Hudson and Strongsville it is 15 ft, and Strongsville applies it to the equipment pad too. Add a fence, which under the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code must be at least 48 in high with self-closing, self-latching gates, and a lot needs to be around 60 to 70 ft wide to take a Tradition comfortably.

A 16 ft shell arrives on a truck in one piece and goes in by crane. We check the route, the overhead lines and the ground the crane will sit on during the site visit. If the only way in is over a septic field or a soft lawn in April, we plan around it rather than hope for dry weather.

You get the Liberty shell and full installation, a Pentair variable-speed pump, a Pentair DE filter, 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. The 3D design and permits are handled by us.

After the visit we price the barrier fence, extra decking, spoils haul-off, dewatering and the power run to the pad. On a pool this wide, the haul-off is larger than most people expect, so it is good to plan for it early.

An automatic cover is the obvious first upgrade on a wide rectangle. After that, a heater, a spillover spa at one end, sheer descents on the far wall and a larger patio for the crowd. Automation helps once there is a heater, lights and a spa to manage. With about 15,000 gallons to keep clean, some owners also weigh a salt system, which makes its own chlorine, or a cartridge filter in place of the standard DE. We talk through those tradeoffs during design.