Building a fiberglass pool in West Jordan

Twenty percent of the rear yard sounds like plenty until you add the pool, the equipment pad and a shed or pergola. Until we've read 13-8-16, we plan as if the pool counts toward that 20%, because that's the safe assumption. We measure your rear yard, subtract what's already there, and size from what's left.

Six feet from the house leaves room for a walkway between the back door and the water.

Platted easements are off limits for accessory buildings unless 13-8-5 allows it. We pull your plat before we draw, so the pool, equipment and any cabana stay clear.

West Jordan's own pool fence rule is likely in the section we haven't read. Until it's confirmed, we design to the state's 48-inch barrier minimum at the very least, and we recommend 6 feet, which is what Riverton and Bluffdale require.

The Utah Geological Survey has mapped West Jordan for shallow groundwater, shallow bedrock, and soils that collapse or swell when wet. In 2023, after a heavy snow year, the survey also identified groundwater flooding sites in west Salt Lake County.

Swelling clay usually moves the deck more than the pool. Its pressure can reach 15,000 pounds per square foot, and where the wet-and-dry zone is shallower than the pool, which is the common case, the deck is what heaves. So we put a compacted base under the deck and a flexible joint where the deck meets the coping. The joint is common practice, not a code rule.

We haven't confirmed West Jordan's sewer district. Whoever it is, backwash goes to the sanitary sewer under the county health department's rules, so we find your connection point early.