Selecting The Right Fiberglass Swimming Pool

Fiberglass swimming pool prices can vary quite a bit, depending on how much work you are willing or able to do yourself. Most complete self-installations can cost anywhere from $12,000 to $30,000 for small fiberglass swimming pools and above ground fiberglass swimming pools, expect a larger amount for inground pool prices. If you do the concrete decking you and hire a company to do everything else in the install, the price ranges from $20,000 to $45,000. If you use the same company to complete every phase of the installation, including the decking, the cost can range from $30,000 to about $75,000 for fiberglass inground pools.

The key to having choices in fiberglass pools is really about shape more than size. On the average, inground fiberglass swimming pools are 18 by 36 feet. The shape of the pool, however, can be anything from a rectangle to a circle to many more complex shapes.

The size is usually limited because fiberglass swimming pools are pre-formed shells, which means the whole piece of fiberglass has to be transported to the installation site intact and then placed in an excavated hole in the ground. It is difficult to design something so large that it takes a massive brainstorm to determine how to get the pool from the manufacturer to the homeowner in one undamaged piece. Above ground, fiberglass swimming pools have the same dilemma; they just are not fitted into the ground.

The average lifespan of fiberglass swimming pools will always depend on the quality of the work invested in creating the pool. This includes material and labor. With regular maintenance and upkeep, most pools can survive about 25 years before a first face-lift is needed.

Inground fiberglass swimming pools make maintenance a much easier job than pools made of concrete. You do not have to clean it as much or use as many harsh chemicals like chlorine in the water. There is no grouting, resurfacing or replastering with the fiberglass pool because it is not susceptible to cracks like concrete is. You will likely have to select from a wide array of automatic pool cleaners.

The fiberglass swimming pool does have a couple of drawbacks. It cannot be as customized as concrete pools because they are prefabricated. Fiberglass pool owners must keep water in their pools at all times. Pressure inside and outside of the fiberglass pool needs to stay equal at all times.

In the western U.S., fiberglass swimming pools are the going choice because the material bends with the earth - a safeguard for the earthquakes that have come to characterize the region. These pools even have the muscle to stand against tree roots that break through vinyl lined pools.