Building a fiberglass pool in Herriman

Herriman's checklist sets limits, not comfort. Steps can be 12 inches tall; we'd rather build 10-inch steps that your parents and your four-year-old can both manage. The floor can slope up to 33%; we keep a long, flat shallow end, because a cramped shallow area is one of the regrets owners raise on pool forums.

The barrier has to wrap the equipment too, not just the water. That changes where the pump and filter go. We put the pad inside the fenced yard, and keep it where a pump won't hum under a bedroom window.

Gates swing out, away from the pool, and close and latch by themselves. If a door from the house opens into the pool area, Herriman wants the alarm on the plans. Our approach is the fenced yard: a 6-foot fence on every lot line with self-closing gates, closed against the house, so the house isn't part of the barrier. Herriman's own sample plan shows a 6-ft privacy fence with self-closing, self-locking gates. Every MP pool also gets an automatic safety cover. A barrier that isolates the pool from the house has the strongest evidence behind it for keeping toddlers out.

Five inspections means the schedule follows the inspector. The bonding grid under the deck gets inspected before concrete covers it, so we book the deck pour after that sign-off, not before.

Herriman's cold-weather rule is written for concrete work: air-entrained concrete, and fresh plaster kept from freezing for at least a day. A fiberglass pool has no plaster, but the deck and the bond beam are still concrete, so the cold-weather rule applies to them. If your build runs into the shoulder season, we'll tell you which steps have to wait for warmer weather.

Latham's fiberglass shells carry an ICC-ES evaluation report, ESR-2014, and some cities accept that in place of an engineer's stamp. Herriman isn't one we can lean on it for: it asks for stamped plans and a soils report after the dig regardless, so we plan for both.

Herriman sits inside the area the Utah Geological Survey mapped for western Salt Lake Valley hazards: shallow groundwater, shallow bedrock, and soils that can collapse or swell when they get wet. A map can't tell you what's under one backyard. That's why Herriman asks for the soils report after the dig, when the engineer is looking at the real ground.

After the heavy 2023 snow year, the state survey identified groundwater sites in west Salt Lake County. Snowmelt is one of the named reasons pools lift out of the ground, and an emptied pool shell, fiberglass included, can lift out of the ground when groundwater pushes up on it. Latham's label says to keep the pool full and contact Latham before draining, and its warranty is void if groundwater accumulates under or around the pool. So a Herriman design from us includes a hydrostatic relief valve at the low point and a standpipe you can check before you ever lower the water.

Herriman hands out the county health department's pool-water disposal guide. Backwash and filter-cleaning water go to the sanitary sewer, never a ditch or storm drain. We haven't confirmed which sewer district serves each Herriman street, so we check yours before we place the equipment pad.