Fiberglass pools for small backyards in Northeast Ohio

There is no official size. In practice a yard feels small for a pool when, after you account for the setbacks, the fence and a place to sit, the space left for water is under about 12 by 24 feet. That describes plenty of lots in older neighborhoods around the region, many newer subdivision lots where the house takes most of the width, and yards that already have a big patio, a shed or a play set the family wants to keep.

Fiberglass can work well here, with one caution. The shells come in fixed sizes, so you cannot trim a model to fit the last few feet. The upside is that fiberglass installs quickly, so a small yard is torn up for less time, and the smooth surface stays easy to keep clean in a yard where leaves from the neighbors' trees end up in the water.

From the Liberty Composites lineup we install, these compact models are the ones we look at first for a small yard. Dimensions are Liberty's published specs, which can vary by up to 3 percent.

• Narrow yards, about 9 feet wide: the Enrichment plunge pools come in three lengths, the 9.17 at about 9 by 17 feet, the 9.21 at about 9 by 21 and the 9.24 at about 9 by 24, all 4 feet 9 inches deep with a built-in tanning ledge and steps.
• About 10 by 20 feet: the Dignity, a kidney shape running 3 feet 2 inches to 5 feet deep, with swim-up seating and a wading area.
• About 11 by 22 feet: the Victory, a freeform with swim-up seating, 3 feet 6 inches to 5 feet deep.
• About 12 by 23 to 12 by 24 feet: the Compassion 12.23, a rectangle with full-length swim-up seating; the Poise, a freeform with wide entry stairs; and the Virtue, a kidney with swim-up seating.
• A step up: the Stature 13.23, about 13 by 24 feet, with full-width entry steps, and the Hero at 12 by 26.

Our published package prices include the Enrichment 9x17 and Dignity 10x20 at $68,400, the Victory 11x22 at $70,600 and the Hero 12x26 at $74,900, installed with the Pentair pump, DE filter, a pool heater and LED lights, a 4 foot concrete wrap deck, a cleaning kit, starter chemicals and the electrical hook-up at the equipment.

Setbacks are the distance a pool has to stay from your property lines, and in a small yard they often decide more than the budget does. Towns write their own numbers. Two examples from Summit County:

• Hudson allows pools only behind the main mass of the house and requires at least 15 feet from side and rear lot lines, or 50 feet from the side line on a corner lot.
• The Village of Silver Lake allows pools only in rear yards, at least 10 feet from each lot line, and treats them as a conditional use that goes before its Planning Commission with notice to neighbors.

Run the numbers on a lot that is 70 feet wide. With 15 foot side setbacks, the pool has to fit within the middle 40 feet, before the deck, the fence and the equipment pad take their share. With 10 foot setbacks the strip is 50 feet. That difference can be the difference between a 12 foot wide pool and a 16 foot one. Ask your building or zoning office whether they measure to the water's edge, the pool wall or the deck, because it changes the answer.

Nearly every Ohio town requires a barrier around an inground pool. The International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, which many local rules follow, sets the model at a barrier at least 48 inches high, openings that will not pass a 4 inch sphere and self-closing, self-latching gates. Hudson requires a fence or wall at least 4 feet high all the way around the pool, installed before the pool is filled, and allows the house or an accessory building to form part of the enclosure.

In a small yard, that last point helps. If your whole backyard is already fenced to code, the existing fence and the back of the house may serve as the barrier, with the right gates and any door alarms your town requires. That saves the space an inner pool fence would take. Hudson also requires screening dense enough to hide the pool from neighboring homes and streets, placed no closer than 72 inches to the pool, which is worth planning early on a lot where the neighbors are close.

A fiberglass shell arrives in one piece on a truck. On a small lot with no side yard wide enough for the shell, it is lifted over the house or garage by crane. That sounds dramatic and is fairly routine, but the crane needs a place to set up on the street or driveway, and overhead power lines can rule out some positions. The dig also needs an excavator, and the dirt has to go somewhere, usually out in dump trucks through the same tight gap.

We look at all of this on the site visit. Access rarely rules out a pool, but on a tight lot it affects the crane size, the time on site and the cost of hauling spoils. Those items are priced after we see the yard, so they are in the quote rather than a surprise later.

The same ones as anywhere in the region, with less room to work around them. Much of Northeast Ohio sits on slow-draining clay soils that hold water near the surface from fall through spring. On a big lot you can put the pool on the high ground. On a small lot the pool may have to go where the yard allows, even if that spot is flat and wet.

That puts more weight on grading and drainage. Water from your roof, your patio and the neighbors' yard has to be steered around the pool and deck rather than into them, which may mean a swale, a drain line or a short retaining wall. On a lot where the yard slopes toward the house, drainage planning is not optional, and we would rather spend money there than on a larger shell.

• Push the pool to one side instead of centering it. A rectangle set along the side setback line leaves one usable patio instead of two narrow strips.
• Choose seating inside the pool. Swim-up benches and a tanning ledge give you places to sit without adding deck.
• Let the deck do double duty as the path from the house, so you do not need a separate walkway.
• Keep the equipment pad tight to the house or garage, screened, and away from the neighbors' windows.
• Use one paving material for the whole area so the pool and patio read as one space.
• Light it. The Pentair color LED lights in every package make a small pool the focal point of the yard at night.

Think about the neighbors as part of the design, too. On a small lot the pool is closer to someone else's patio and bedroom windows than it would be on an acre. A screened equipment pad, a variable-speed pump running quietly at low speed, planting along the fence line and lighting aimed at the water rather than over the fence all make the pool easier to live next to. They also make it easier to get through any town review that gives neighbors a say, like Silver Lake's Planning Commission process.

For most small-yard owners we talk to, yes, as long as the expectations match. A compact pool is for cooling off, sitting in the water, splashing with young kids and evening swims, not laps. It heats faster and costs less to heat than a large pool, which matters with a swim season that runs roughly Memorial Day to Labor Day without a heater. And the costs that do not shrink with the pool, like the permit, the fence and the crane, are the same whether you build small or large.

Our fiberglass packages start at $68,400 installed. Fencing, extra patio, spoils haul-off, dewatering and the power run from your panel to the equipment are priced after the site visit, and financing is available through lenders we work with. We design every pool in 3D on your lot before anything is dug, so you can see exactly what fits, fence and patio included, before you commit.