What do you all think of fiberglass?

[Bayshorecreations]

Hello everyone! I am new here.
I am looking at fiberglass pools as an option for my home and i'm curious if anyone here has one or has any opinions on them?
The pool will be going in a small yard (sandy soil) here in NJ. It will be aprox. 14'x26'. I am leaning away from the option of a liner pool because I have 2 dogs.
I know nothing about pools and have some questions about the fiberglass.
Does the fiberglass fade and or get spider cracks from the sun over the years?
Is it true that they use less chemicals than other types?
Do they require less maintenance?
Thanks for any info or opinions that you can give.

[ThePoolGuy]

Welcome abaord!

I don't have much experience with the FG pools but I do like them.


They seem like they would need less maintance over the years compared to a Plaster pool but don't quote me on it. I clean one thats about 5 years old or older and it looks great. It does have some signs of fading around the top edging but nothing real bad.

[mbar]

This is my 7th season with a fiberglass pool - I love it. It is easy to keep, the only problem I have is staining sometimes - but you can have this with any pool if you have metals in the water - I have well water.

My pool is white, so it doesn't fade. It does get some spider cracks around the lip, which are just cosmetic, and my pool was guaranteed for 50 yrs, so they come out and recoat the top - they do charge a service fee, but to me it is worth it. It still looks as good as it did the day they put it in - and I do mean day! It basically is a giant bathtub - but put in the ground it looks like a beautiful pool. Hope this helps.

[waterbear]

I opted for fiberglass for my pool becuase it is non reactive, unlike plaster, so your water balancing is much easier.
Also algae doesn't stick to the smooth surface so if you get any it is easer to treat.
It is much more durable than vinyl and will last much longer than a vinyl liner.
It does not need to be acid washed or replastered like a plaster pool
The biggest drawback to fiberglass has been the price. It tended to be the most expensive type of pool you could buy. Now that concrete prices have gone through the roof it is actually becoming very competative and in many cases less expensive than a plaster pool. I had many quotes when I was having my pool built last year and the fiberglass came in second lowest (AND the quote included a heatpump and automation!)

[PoBoy]

I got a fiberglass pool last november and love it (13x26 inground).

1. Get one with a warranty (lifetime available) and you wont have to ever worry about cracks, fading, etc. I have a Blue speckel coloring and see fading even with the 112 degree AZ heat. But it's only been a few months...

2. Chemicals - we do nothing but put keep the chlorine floaty thing full. Which makes it easy to forget to check it since we rarely do anything to the pool in the first place. It did go empty last week and we had a little algea that disappeard in a day after adding clorine and a few ounces of algea killer stuff. Since the pool is non-pourous - algea brushes off with ease.

3. Maintanence - we have a polaris, so he does 90% of the cleaning. Every couple of days we brush dirt off the steps and seating spots because the polaris cant alwasy climb up the walls and get to those spots. Since the pool is fiberglass, it is slippery for the polaris so he cant climb as well as he would in a concrete. We wouldnt have to sweep but every few weeks if our pool wasnt surrounded by dirt - we have no grass or gravel yet around our pool. It's all dirt.

My wife and I both work - we went with fiberglass because we dont have the time to keep up a pool. We just want to be able to jump in whenever we want. The pump only has to run 4 hours a day (we run it at night) so the electricity costs are lower in addition to the chemical costs. You also dont have to re-plaster it every 7-10 years. Only problem with fiberglass is that you have to like the styles available. If you dont like them - get a concrete. Ours is a Bermuda by Viking pools: http://www.vikingpools.net/bermuda.htm

[chazas]

2. Chemicals - we do nothing but put keep the chlorine floaty thing full. Which makes it easy to forget to check it since we rarely do anything to the pool in the first place. It did go empty last week and we had a little algea that disappeard in a day after adding clorine and a few ounces of algea killer stuff. Since the pool is non-pourous - algea brushes off with ease.

You didn't ask, but I'm advising you anyway. Read up on chlorination on this forum and on its sister site poolsolutions.com. This ultimately is a recipe for algae. The pucks in the floater quickly will increase your stabilizer to very high levels, and the higher the stabilizer level, the higher level of chlorine you need to keep your water sanitized.

[PoBoy]

I'll look into it - but we havent had an algea problem at all and we have the clorine floater on the lowest level. Perhaps it is because I am in Phoeniz, AZ where it doesnt rain ever. The wife tests the levels every few weeks and all is well. We also took a sample of water to Leslie's last week while shoping for a cover and it came up "good". Perhaps we need to get a better testing kit as ours just does PH and Chlorine levels...thanks for the info!

[ThePoolGuy]

This mourning I arrived at the only Fiber glass pool I clean. It was a total mess from hell. I figured it would be a little messed up considering the huge rain and dust storm we had last Thursday and that all my pools thus far has been that way. But this pool was nothing but Alge and dirt I was very surprized to see how easy it was to vacuum up all the Alge. It sucked right off the walls and didn't leave much for me to brush...I stilled brushed the pool down afterwards. The Chlorine was around .2 and the PH around 7.4. I shocked the crap out of it brining the chlorine up to around 3+ and the PH around 7.8. Then I dump a half bottle of some Alge Terminator in the skimmer and will doose it out the rest of the week. The pool looks like a new pool with just a few hours of work. I talked with the owners and we agreed it's probaly better to clean that pool twice a week instead of once a week. That once a week is a PITA since they got to much foilage around the pool.

Anyways, thats my experince with a FB and it reinforces my liking of them.

[waterbear]

3. Maintanence - we have a polaris, so he does 90% of the cleaning. Every couple of days we brush dirt off the steps and seating spots because the polaris cant alwasy climb up the walls and get to those spots. Since the pool is fiberglass, it is slippery for the polaris so he cant climb as well as he would in a concrete.
There are special wheels available for the Polaris for fiberglass pools that allow it better climbing ability.

hope this is helpful

[PoBoy]

yeah...we have those wheels - the suction cup ones. They work too well- he likes to climb out of the pool and gets stuck on occasion where the hose comes out of the wall. The reverse action isnt powerful enough to unsuction him when he gets stuck. Maybe once they get a little wear and tear - they'll lose some of the suction power. Regardless, we have a couple high sitting areas in the deep end that he just doesnt get very well along with the top 2 steps in the shallow. The weight of the hose pulls him back...still - the polairs is MUCH better than doing that whole vacuming the floor thing. That was a PITA. We got the 360 (low preassure one) since our pool was built for a suction solution. It works good enough...sweeping the steps is no big deal.