Inground pools in Salem, Ohio

Zadok Street and John Straughan founded Salem in 1806, and many of the first families were Quakers, which is why the Salem City Schools teams are still the Quakers. The town was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and several homes tied to that history are on the National Register. Centennial Park, the city's oldest, dates to 1906 and is known for its century-old trees; Waterworth Memorial Park is the largest.

A town this old has a wide mix of lot shapes, from compact in-town parcels with detached garages to roomier yards on newer streets. On the tighter lots, the fence line often ends up being the design problem, because the fence has to fit the pool and the property line rules at the same time.

We sampled the USDA soil survey around Salem, and nearly every point in town came back as Canfield silt loam or Canfield mixed with urban land. Canfield is a very deep, moderately well drained soil that formed in glacial till. Its weak spot is a fragipan, a dense, brittle layer where water slows way down. The survey shows the wet zone perching about 15 inches below the surface in the wet part of the year. In the flatter low spots we also found Fitchville silt loam, which is somewhat poorly drained.

On a Canfield lot, a pool dig usually passes through the fragipan, and water that was sitting on top of it will find the hole. We keep a pump ready, give the water somewhere to go around the finished shell, and make sure the deck and yard slope away from the pool so the fragipan does not send runoff straight back to it.

Section 1194.01(e) of the Salem Codified Ordinances covers fencing around pools:

• Every in-ground pool must be completely enclosed by a fence, a permanent structure, or both, along the pool's perimeter.
• Every opening into the pool area needs self-closing and self-latching hardware.
• The fence and gate must be at least 4 feet and no more than 6 feet high, starting at grade and running straight up.
• The fence has to be kept in good repair, with the finished side facing out.

When the change first went through council in 2023, the Morning Journal reported that the city said it would apply to existing pools too, not only new ones. If you are buying a Salem house that already has a pool, that is worth checking.

A pool fence in Salem also has to meet the city's general residential fence rules, and they are more particular than most:

• Behind the front line of the house, side and rear fences can be up to 6 feet above undisturbed grade and may be solid.
• Chain link is limited to rear and side yards and to 4 feet high in residential districts.
• Wood or wood-look vinyl, wrought iron or aluminum that looks like it, and masonry are all allowed. Cedar slat, plastic and woven wire fencing are not.
• A fence on a shared lot line must follow one of three setups: the fence sits on the line with no parallel neighbor fence within 3 feet; the fence sits on the line and both owners sign a notarized Fence Construction and Maintenance Agreement filed with the permit; or the fence sits at least 3 feet inside the line, with a gate so the strip outside it can be maintained.

The owner is responsible for locating the property lines, so on older lots we often suggest a survey before we set fence posts.

Salem's Planning and Zoning Department reviews building improvement plans and issues permits, and the city charges accessory uses like pools a zoning fee by the square foot. Contractors must register with the city before working in Salem. The city's building department handles commercial construction. We confirm with Planning and Zoning which setbacks apply to your lot and what electrical inspection the pool needs before we submit, and we handle the filing.

Fiberglass is where we start for most Salem yards. A Liberty shell like the Dignity at 10 by 20 or the Hero at 12 by 26 fits a deep, narrow lot and goes in without weeks of open excavation in Canfield clay. If you want room for a tanning ledge and a spa, the 14 and 16 foot wide models give it. An ICF concrete pool is our answer for a shape a mold can't match, and a Latham vinyl liner is how we build a custom size when the budget is tighter.

Installed fiberglass packages begin at $68,400. That number already includes Pentair lighting and equipment (variable-speed pump, DE filter), a pool heater, a 4 foot poured deck around the shell, the install itself and the electrical connection at the pad. In Salem, the fence is the extra most people underestimate, since it has to meet both the pool rule and the property line rules. Extra decking, hauling off spoils, pumping a wet dig and running power from the panel to the pad are priced separately too. We work with lenders including PoolLoan.net and HFS Financial if you want to finance.

The paperwork side is usually quick once the fence plan is settled, and settling it is where time goes on older lots: a survey, maybe a signed agreement with the neighbor, then the permit. We start those conversations while the 3D design is still being refined. The dig itself follows the weather. Canfield ground is workable in a normal spring but turns sticky after a wet week. When that happens we pause the dig, because backfill packed in saturated clay settles later, usually under the deck.

Salem is about 26 miles southeast of our Ravenna shop. We also work in Canfield, Alliance, Boardman and Poland, so the Columbiana and Mahoning County line is familiar ground for our crew.