Inground pools in Louisville, Ohio

Louisville grew up along the east branch of Nimishillen Creek, northeast of Canton, and it grew steadily. The city's own history page notes that it kept adding people even in years when other Stark County cities were losing them, passing 5,000 in the 1950s and reaching 9,521 at the 2020 census. That growth left a mix of housing: older homes on tighter lots near the downtown, and postwar and newer subdivisions spreading out toward Nimishillen Township, which surrounds the city.

What that means for us is that no two Louisville backyards look alike. A house a few blocks from Main Street may have a narrow, deep lot with a detached garage and an alley. A newer home near the edge of town may have a wide, open yard with a gentle fall toward a drainage swale. We walk every site before we draw anything, because the setback and easement rules below land very differently on those two kinds of lots.

We checked the USDA soil survey at a grid of points across the city. Canfield silt loam came up at most of them, on slopes from nearly flat to about 12 percent. There were patches of Wooster silt loam on the steeper ground and Chili loam, a gravelly outwash soil, on the southwest side.

Canfield is the one that shapes the job. It formed in glacial till and has a fragipan, a dense, brittle layer partway down that water moves through slowly. The USDA describes an intermittent perched water table 10 to 21 inches below the surface from November to April in normal years. In plain terms, rain and snowmelt soak in, hit that layer and sit there. A pool hole dug through it in early spring can collect water from the sides even when the weather has been dry for a few days.

We handle that with timing where we can and with drainage every time. Every pool we set gets a way to relieve water pressure from under and around the shell. The Canfield subsoil we dig out is not good backfill, so we plan to haul it and bring in stone. And on the eroded 6 to 12 percent slopes, we look closely at where the water from uphill goes once there is a deck in its path.

Most Louisville families who call us end up with a fiberglass pool, and we are glad to steer them that way. A Liberty shell arrives in one piece, goes in quickly, and has a nonporous finish that shrugs off wet, cold ground. Our installed packages start at $68,400 for a Dignity 10x20 or Enrichment 9x17, which fit the older, tighter lots nearer downtown with room left for the 10 foot setback. On a bigger lot, a 14 or 16 foot wide model makes sense, such as the Anthem 14x30 at $90,200.

If the yard calls for a size or shape no mold makes, we build vinyl liner pools with Latham liners, and ICF concrete pools when someone wants insulated walls to hold heat into September. Because the perched water sits so close to the surface in spring, we pay as much attention to the deck as the pool. We pitch the concrete away from the water and away from the house, and if the lot slopes, a short retaining wall and a drain line usually do more good than extra patio.

Plan the budget around the whole project, not only the shell. The package covers the pool, Pentair equipment, a 4 ft concrete deck and the hook-up at the equipment pad. The required fence, extra patio, hauling off that Canfield subsoil, pumping a wet dig and running power from your panel out to the pad are separate line items that depend on your lot. We price each one after the site visit, and if you plan to finance, we work with lenders such as PoolLoan.net and HFS Financial to find a fit.

The city puts its private pool rules in Section 1157.28 of the codified ordinances. For a pool holding 1.5 feet of water or more, the main points are:

• The pool is an accessory use for the people who live there and their guests.
• It goes in the rear yard, no closer than 10 feet to any property line or easement.
• It cannot sit in a utility or storm easement.
• For an in-ground pool, the pool area or the whole property must be walled or fenced to prevent uncontrolled access from the street or neighboring lots. The fence or wall must be at least 4 feet high and kept in good condition.

The easement line is the one that catches people. Many Louisville lots carry a utility or storm easement along the back or side line, and the 10 foot setback is measured from the easement as well as the lot line. A 60 foot deep backyard can shrink fast once you subtract both. We pull the plat and survey before we pick a model, so you are not choosing a pool that will not fit.

The fence rule also gives you a choice. You can fence the pool area on its own or fence the whole yard, as long as the result stops uncontrolled access. For families with a dog or small kids, fencing the whole backyard often works out better, and the house wall can close one side.

Louisville's Planning and Development Department handles the city's zoning, building and property maintenance work, and its office is at 215 S. Mill St. The city's permit page says it issues zoning permits for all properties and building permits for one, two and three family homes, with in-ground pools on the building list. Commercial buildings go to the Stark County Building Department instead. The city also publishes a swimming pool electrical code handout and diagram with its electric permit application.

Contractors have to register with the city before any permit is issued. We take care of that registration and the applications. You will see a zoning permit, a building permit and an electrical permit for a typical pool, and the site plan we submit shows the lot lines, easements, the pool, the deck and the fence line.

The paperwork side moves at small-city speed. The slower variable is the ground. Because Canfield's perched water is at its highest from late fall through April, we prefer to dig once the ground has had a chance to drain in late spring, and we keep fall projects moving so the shell is set and backfilled before the wet months come back. If you want to swim by July, the time to start the design is winter, so the permit is in hand when the ground is ready.

From Louisville we also build in North Canton, Canton, Hartville, Alliance and Uniontown. Stark County sits south of the heavy lake-effect snowbelt, so our crews usually get a longer working season down here than in Geauga or Lake County, and the drive down Route 44 from Ravenna is an easy one for site visits and inspections.