Where to put a pool in your backyard

Most people start with the view. That is fair, but the view is the last thing to settle. We work through a yard in a fixed order, because each step rules out ground for the next one:

1. Rules: setbacks, easements, overhead wires, septic systems and wells.
2. Ground: slope, drainage and what the soil does when it rains.
3. Sun and shade through the swim season.
4. How you will use it: sight lines, the path from the house, deck and patio space.
5. Practical items: where the equipment goes and how the machines get in.

Very few yards have one perfect spot. Most have two or three workable ones, and the choice between them comes down to what you care about most.

Every town in Northeast Ohio writes its own zoning setbacks, and they can differ by district and by type of structure. The City of Stow, for example, requires a zoning permit for pools and tells residents that setbacks vary depending on the zoning district and what is being built. Stow's code also says a pool must drain to a storm sewer or other approved drain and cannot be drained onto a neighbor's property, which affects where the equipment and drain line go. Your town will have its own version. We check it for your address, and we handle the permits.

Easements matter as much as setbacks. Utility and drainage easements often run along rear lot lines, and building over one can cause trouble at permit time, or later if the utility needs to dig. Your deed and plat show recorded easements.

Overhead wires are the one people miss. The electrical code requires service drop cables to be at least 22.5 feet above the water, and that clearance applies out to 10 feet horizontally from the inside of the pool walls. The wire from the pole to your house often crosses the backyard, and that strip is usually off the table.

On lots with a septic system, Ohio's sewage rule keeps every system component at least 10 feet from buildings, structures and hardscape. A pool and its deck count, so the tank, lines and leach field all get a buffer.

Because our soils hold water. Much of the region sits on glacial till, and the USDA describes Mahoning silt loam, one of the most widespread soils here with more than 450,000 acres mapped in northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania, as somewhat poorly drained with a perched water table 6 to 12 inches below the surface from October through June in most years.

So do not put the pool in the low corner where the lawn stays soggy after a storm. Water that runs toward a pool carries dirt and mulch into it, undermines the deck base and puts pressure on the shell from outside when the ground is saturated. Pick higher ground if you have it, and plan the deck so it sheds water away from both the pool and the house. If the only good spot is in the path of runoff, we plan swales or drains to move the water around it.

Our swim season runs roughly Memorial Day to Labor Day, and sunlight is the cheapest heat a pool gets. In most Northeast Ohio yards, the best spot has open sky to the south and west. That gives midday and afternoon sun, which is when the water is warming and when most families swim.

Watch the trees and the house. At Akron's latitude the noon sun in late June is about 72 degrees above the horizon, but by early evening it is low in the west, and NOAA's solar calculator puts sunset around 9 p.m. in late June and close to 7:50 p.m. by Labor Day. A tall maple on the west property line or the shadow of a two story house can put the pool in shade for the last hours of every swim day. We look at the shadows at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., not only at noon.

Wind matters too. A pool in an open, exposed spot loses heat faster and collects more blown leaves. A house wall, a fence or a hedge on the windy side helps, as long as it does not block the afternoon sun.

Close enough to be easy. You will carry towels, food and kids back and forth all summer, and you will use a pool more if the steps are a short walk from the back door. But not so close that you lose the space in between. A pool squeezed against the patio leaves no room for a table or a grill.

Sight lines count for safety. Put the pool where you can see all of it, including the deep end, from the kitchen or family room. If a wall of the house forms part of the pool barrier, the CPSC recommends audible alarms on every door that leads to the pool, sounding within 7 seconds of the door opening, along with self closing and self latching doors or locks out of a child's reach.

Downspouts and roof edges matter too. Roof runoff that dumps next to the deck ends up in the pool or under the slab. We plan gutters and drain lines into the layout.

The pump, filter, heater and controls sit on a pad that needs power and a short, sensible plumbing run to the pool. Our packages include a Pentair variable speed pump, and even a pump running at low speed makes some noise, so you do not want the pad under a bedroom window or beside your patio table. Behind the garage or along a side wall, screened by plantings, is common.

The package covers the electrical hook-up at the equipment. The power run from your panel to the pad is priced separately, so a pad near the panel costs less than one at the far end of the yard. Heaters need clearances of their own, and gas heaters need a gas line.

On suburban lots in Hudson, Stow or Green, the pool is usually visible from somewhere next door. Moving it a few feet rarely fixes that. Placement still helps: a pool set toward the middle of the yard, with the deck and seating on the side away from the neighbor's patio, feels more private than one pushed into a corner against their fence. Privacy fencing, evergreen screening and a pergola over the seating area do the rest. Keep plantings back from the water, though, since leaves and needles end up in the skimmer, and check that tall screening does not throw shade onto the pool in the afternoon.

A pool that fits the yard still has to be built. Excavators, dump trucks and, for fiberglass, a shell on a trailer or a crane need a path. A wide side yard makes for an easy install. A narrow gap between houses, a slope, a septic field or a mature tree in the only route all change the plan, and sometimes the pool location. We look at access on the first site visit so the best spot on paper is also a spot we can reach.

Our packages include a 4 ft concrete wrap deck. That is enough to walk around the pool, and not much else. Most families want space for lounge chairs on the sunny side, a dining table in some shade and a clear walkway. If you think you will want an outdoor kitchen, a pergola or a fire pit in a few years, leave room for it now and say so in the design. It is much easier to run conduit or a gas line before the deck is poured.

Also think about the fence. Most Ohio towns require a barrier around the pool, and the CPSC guidelines call for one at least 48 inches high with self closing, self latching gates that open outward, away from the pool. Where that fence runs changes how the yard feels. A barrier drawn tight around the deck leaves open lawn for the kids. One along the property line encloses everything.

We walk the yard with you, measure it and build a 3D design of the pool, deck, equipment and fence before anything is dug. You can move the pool around on screen, compare shells and see the setbacks, wires and shade in the same view. Doug H. described that planning in his review: "The gang at OSP worked with me to plan my family's in-ground pool. Excellent cooperation and timely execution throughout the process."