In Clearfield the first question is not what pool you want. It is whether we can physically get a machine into your backyard.
Clearfield is an older, tighter town than the subdivisions west of it. Established neighborhoods, smaller lots, narrow side yards, mature trees, fences that have been there thirty years, and the occasional power line running exactly where you would want to swing a boom.
An inground pool means moving a lot of dirt out and a lot of material in. That takes an excavator, and an excavator has to fit. If your side yard is five feet wide between the house and the fence, that changes everything about the job — and there are streets in Clearfield where that is the norm.
When access is tight, there are options. We can take a section of fence out and put it back. We can use smaller equipment and take longer. In a genuinely landlocked backyard we can crane material over the house, which works and is not cheap. What we cannot do is pretend the problem is not there and hand you a surprise halfway through.
So on a Clearfield job we come and look early, and we tell you honestly which of those three you are, because the difference between them is thousands of dollars and it should be in the number you get, not in a change order.
The other thing about established neighborhoods is that things are buried in them and not always where the records say. Old sewer laterals, abandoned septic, a sprinkler system somebody put in himself in 1985, the odd bit of buried concrete from whatever was there before the house. We locate before we dig. It is not glamorous and it is the difference between a clean job and a very bad afternoon.
Clearfield sits on the west side of the valley too. The Utah Geological Survey puts shallow groundwater within about 10 feet of the surface in low-lying ground and notes it can destabilize excavations. Where we find it, an inground build gets dewatering during the dig and a hydrostatic relief valve afterward, so groundwater cannot float an empty shell out of the ground.
Utah has adopted the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, with statewide amendments in Utah Code 15A-3. Residential pools are permitted and inspected, and the safety barrier is code, not an option. We pull the permit and schedule the inspections.
Sometimes the honest answer in Clearfield is that an inground pool is going to cost you more in access and dirt handling than it is worth to you. If that is what your yard says, we will say it. An above ground pool on a properly built pad, with a real deck around it, is a genuinely good backyard, and it does not need an excavator threaded between your house and your neighbor's fence.
We would rather sell you the right pool than the bigger one. It is why we are still here.
Usually yes, but the method changes and so does the price. Options include removing and rebuilding a fence section, using compact equipment, or craning material over the house. We will tell you which one your lot needs before you commit.
Access and the unknowns underground. Tight lots slow the excavation and increase how much material has to be handled by hand or by crane, and older properties hide old utilities that have to be located and worked around.
Yes. On a tight Clearfield lot it is often the sensible one. Built on a proper pad with a deck, it is a real backyard, not a compromise.
See Layton, Syracuse, West Haven and Hooper.
Genuinely — that is the first thing we will want to see. Have a look at inground pool construction and custom pool design, or get in touch.
Ogden Pools — 190 W 33rd St 160 suite K, Ogden, UT 84401. Call (801) 751-9057.