Fibreglass vs. Concrete for Swimming Pools
Once you have made the decision to have a swimming pool installed on your property there are several factors to take into account and one of the most important ones is what it will be made from; fibreglass or concrete. Here is a breakdown of each to help you decide which one is best for you.
The concrete advantage
Concrete swimming pools have several advantages over fibreglass, the main one being that every part of it can be customised. Shape, size, design, colour and accessories can all be unique because the construction is done onsite, not in the factory. This allows you to put a pool in a corner of any shape and size; it can even be a triangle if that suits the position best. You can have steps and levels in the pool however you want them and you can add lighting and even spa jets to enhance usage.
Concrete lasts a lot longer than fibreglass and is lower in maintenance. When a concrete pool is installed properly there will be no staining at the seams from groundwater.
A concrete pool costs more than a fibreglass pool, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. If your home is worth a great deal as many homes are these days, you don’t want to bring down the value of it by adding a pool that is cheap, just as you wouldn’t want to use cheap fencing or cheap paint on it. It is important to ensure your concrete pool is designed and built by a reputable company that is proud of their reputation for quality.
So what does a fibreglass pool offer?
A fibreglass pool may be fine for some people. As mentioned, it is relatively cheap and can be installed quickly, always supposing that there are some available at the factory. There are several designs and sizes, but these are limited to what the company makes. Since the pools are made in the factory, they have to be transported by truck to their destination. This means they cannot be any larger than would fit on the truck. And while they can be of several shapes, these too are limited. For instance, you couldn’t have a triangular one to fit into a small corner.
A fibreglass pool is very smooth to the touch. Some people think it feels much smoother than the concrete pool, but this is not so if the concrete pool has been finished off properly. It should either be tiled, or finished and coated so that it is just as smooth to the touch as a fibreglass one is.
Even though quality in the factory is easier to ensure due to the enclosed working conditions, after some years of use many fibreglass pools simply degrade and cannot be brought up to scratch as cheaply as concrete can.
