When it comes to making decisions about your new pool, one of the biggest is the type of material it should be constructed from. You can choose concrete or fiberglass for your new pool and each option has its own pros and cons. Here’s how they compare.
Poured or Pre-Fabricated?
The main difference between concrete and fiberglass pools is that concrete pools must be poured on site, while fiberglass pools are pre-fabricated at a manufacturing facility and transported to the installation site.
Concrete Pools
Concrete pools have been around from the beginning and have remained a popular choice. If you want a custom-made pool in a particular shape and size, concrete pools are the clear choice, as they can be designed to any specification. Anything is possible with concrete.
Concrete pools take longer to install because everything has to be done on site. The whole process could take as long as three months to finish. The upside is that they offer an unlimited range of design features such as vanishing edges, tanning ledges or beach entries.
Concrete pools offer the design flexibility that enables them to easily integrate into any type of landscaping design.
Fiberglass Pools
Fiberglass pools are limited as to size, shape and depth because manufacturers only make them in a certain way. However, they are much quicker and easier to install because they arrive on the site, ready-made. There is usually less work for the contractors to do and less of a chance that problems will arise during installation.
Design features are limited with a fiberglass pool, so it could be difficult to find a manufacturer that makes a pool with the exact features you’re looking for. And a fiberglass pool doesn’t have the same flexibility as a concrete pool when it comes to fitting into surrounding landscaping.
Fiberglass pools are the easiest type of swimming pool to maintain because they have a specially designed non-porous coating that makes it a lot harder for mold and algae to form. The coating also makes the pool more resistant to cracks and leaks. You’ll spend less time on the cleaning and maintenance of a fiberglass pool than with a porous concrete pool.
Durability
Both types of swimming pools are very durable but a concrete pool, except under very exceptional circumstances, will never have to be replaced. Any damage can simply be repaired with an acid wash or re-plastering.
Fiberglass pools have also proven to be very durable and, because of the flexibility of the material, they are able to resist fluctuating temperatures very well to avoid the cracking and splitting that very cold and very hot temperatures are prone to cause.