Rise of Fiberglass Pools
The fiberglass inground pool market is the quickest growing market within the pool industry in the United States. The reason behind the trend of the growing fiberglass market is because of the advance of fiberglass technology, options and simply because of the internet. With the internet becoming more common place in the average house hold, people are now able to easily conduct research and educate themselves. People are finding out that fiberglass pools are much stronger than traditional inground pools made with concrete & above ground pools, easy to maintain and offer plenty of options. The internet has also allowed companies to showcase their pools and work while offering online quotes to customers. Companies such as The Aqua Group (http://www.aquapools.com) specialize in fiberglass pools and provide an easy way for a customer inquire about fiberglass pools.
Fiberglass pools are created in a controlled environment which means the manufacturer can control the quality of the product, thus making sure the customer gets the highest quality product they can. Fiberglass is unique in the fact that it flexes, because of this unique feature fiberglass pools are able to withstand an earthquake without cracking of the pool. In fact many manufacturers are now starting to manufacture fiberglass pools with carbon fiber to further increase their strength. All of this simply makes fiberglass pools about 17 times stronger than traditional inground pools.
Fiberglass pools are much easier and less costly to maintain than other inground pools featuring concrete or vinyl liner pools. The unique properties of fiberglass make this possible. Fiberglass is a non-porous and does not interact with the water chemistry unlike concrete. Concrete or plaster pools react with the water causing a greater need for more chemicals. Also fiberglass pools do not need to be resurfaced like concrete pools do. While vinyl liners are also non-porous, they are thin and easy to tear and develop other such problems and will required to be replaced. Fiberglass is also a smooth seamless finish which makes cleaning an easy task. It will take less time to clean, fewer intervals of cleaning and even makes adding an automatic cleaner easier. Fiberglass is also seen as an insulator which allows it to retain heat. The ability to retain heat greatly helps to lower the cost of heating a pool by keeping heat from escaping into the surrounding ground.
Fiberglass pool manufacturers are offering wide variety of options to their models, including many different shapes, color, pools with spas imbedded with in them, built-in benches, sprays, fountains and other water features. Fiberglass has made the move away the traditional white to a large variety of colors and even textures. The colors are mixed right into the resin thus creating a rich and vibrant color that you can not achieve with traditional concrete / gunite pools. Fiberglass pools have come a long way in terms of design. Many manufacturers have expanded their models from the traditional roman, square and kidney to include their own custom free-form designs. This has allowed fiberglass pools to approach on the fact that their shapes are becoming more difficult to distinguish from a traditional concrete/gunite pool. Some manufacturers have begun to offer options such as built-in spas, over-falls, sprays and even fountains to up their appeal.
While fiberglass pools have a few disadvantages but the advantages heavily out-weight those disadvantages. For one fiberglass pools cost more to initially build, but in the long run save money because of the cost of the maintenance is so much lower. Fiberglass pools are also limited to widths that can be transported down the road. This ends up limiting the size of the pool.
