How To Choose The Right Swimming Pool Size?

  • By: Mike Hale
  • Date: July 17, 2022
  • Time to read: 7 min.

When it comes to swimming pools, your home deserves only the best that you can afford. Of course, the size of the pool also matters because of how you need to consider a lot of different factors when you are looking for a swimming pool size that fits your home and your family. So, in that regard, how do you choose the right swimming pool sizes for your home?

Determine who will be the ones mainly using the pool and for what purpose the pool will be. Also, it is important to consider how big your available space is and how much room you should be reserving for all of the other furniture and accessories such as an entire patio, a grill, and some chairs.

There are plenty of different factors that should be able to determine what size of pool you should be getting. That means that you should look at these factors before deciding what pool you should be getting for your home. Of course, there are standard pool sizes that are basically one-size-fits-all pools that you can choose depending on whether or not they fit your need and preferences.

What is the most popular pool size?

When it comes to installing a swimming pool for your own backyard, there are plenty of different sizes that you need to choose from depending on what fits your needs and your preferences perfectly. And while you can have a pool size custom-made for your own home, the easiest way to have a pool installed is by choosing any of the standard sizes that can make it easier for you to have a pool installed in your home.

That said, what are the most popular pool sizes when it comes to the common households all over the country? Well, it really depends because there are plenty of different pool sizes that you can find in a lot of homes.

Nevertheless, the most common pool size in the lower end of the price spectrum is 10 x 20 feet rectangular. Meanwhile, those who could afford to have a larger pool in a larger backyard, they are willing to spend for pools as large as 20 x 40 feet. Then again, these are the pools that are for leisure purposes and are not there for training and laps.

Swimming Pool, How To Choose The Right Swimming Pool Size?

On the other hand, if you are looking to install a swimming pool not for leisure purposes but for fitness or for training, then you should be looking for a lap pool that is traditionally at least 10 feet wide and 50 feet long. This means that you need the have a longer space reserved for a lap pool if you are looking to install one in your own home.

How to choose the right swimming pool size?

While we did discuss that there are some common pool sizes that depend on the price spectrum and for what purpose they are there, there are still some things that you need to look at whenever you want to have a pool installed in your own home. That’s because every home differs in terms of size and backyard room on top of how some people may have different purposes reserved for their pools.

Because of how different pools of different sizes can be installed for a wide variety of different reasons, here are some factors you need to look at whenever you are deciding the right swimming pool sizes for your home:

Available room

The most important thing you need to look at is how big the available room in your backyard is. After all, the size of the entire lot will ultimately limit how big the swimming pool is because you won’t be able to have a pool that exceeds the size of your backyard or even come close to its size.

So, first things first, assess how big the backyard is so that you could have a good idea of how big your pool should be relative to the available space in your backyard. In a lot of cases, this is the only factor that some people tend to look at, and that is why it is very important to assess how big the pool should be relative to the size of the entire available space in the backyard.

Main users

You need to assess who will be using the pool on a regular basis. That’s because not everyone actually uses the swimming pool despite the fact that it is just there lying in the backyard of their homes. As such, it is important to look at which among your family members are going to be using the pool and how many of you in the family are going to use it.

If you have a particularly big family both in the number of people in it and the size of every individual, you would probably need a pool that is on the larger side of the size spectrum. But, then again, you are still limited by the size of the entire backyard itself.

Purpose

The purpose of the swimming pool should matter when determining what size it should be. That’s because it can be as big or as small as it can be regardless of how many people in your household will be using the pool.

For example, if you are installing a pool for laps because you are a competitive swimmer or because you simply want to train, you would need a bigger pool regardless of how many people will be using it. And if you are only using it for leisure purposes, then you may be able to do well with a smaller pool even if there will be a handful of people using the pool.

Room for furniture and accessories

The next thing you need to look at is the room you will be reserving for all of the other things such as the outdoor furniture and accessories. You will probably be needing a patio or a grill so that you can enjoy a hot summer day in your home grilling your favorite meats while the rest of the family is enjoying the day in the pool. 

Of course, it still is better to leave room for plenty of other activities that you could do outside of the pool. You don’t want your backyard to simply be composed of an entire pool that only leaves a few feet for you to move around it.

Likely number of guests

Having a pool at home is a good excuse for you to call a few friends over during a hot summer day so that you can enjoy a great day hanging out with your guests. That means that you should be getting a bigger pool if you intend on inviting a lot of people over for a pool party.

So, even if your family isn’t the biggest, it still is nice to have a big pool if you do intend on inviting guests over to your home. You don’t want your smaller pool to feel cramped if you call friends over to your home for a pool party.

Swimming Pool in backyard

Growing family

Finally, assess the family you have right now and try to see if you are planning on having a growing family with more kids in the future. A smaller pool may be fine right now if you only have one child but the pool could feel cramped later on if you are planning on having three or more kids.

That means that, as early as now, you might want to go for a larger pool even though having a larger family is still up in the works and is yet to be realized. It still is better to be ready especially if you do end up having a pretty large family in the future.

What size pool will fit in my backyard?

Different homes around the country have different backyards. While some backyards will be able to fit larger pools in a realistic sense, let’s face the fact that the entire backyard should not be reserved for the pool. That’s because any family requires a living space in the backyard for all of the other things that the family can do outside the house.

You can’t just leave a few feet of room for your living space because of how you might want your kids to run around the backyard playing catch or practicing their bikes. Of course, the outdoor furniture and the patio are things to consider as well.

As such, as a rule of thumb, leave at least half of the outdoor space for the pool if you do intend on installing a pool in your backyard. The other half should be reserved as a living area for you and your family.

What is a good size pool for a small backyard?

If you have a particularly smaller backyard compared to the others but it still is big enough for a pool, you may still be able to have a pool installed in it but keep in mind that the pool might just be enough for dipping and not for laps.

That said, a smaller backyard may still be able to have a rectangular pool that is 10 x 20 feet. You could also go for an oval pool if you want to save a few spaces that the corners of a rectangular pool will take. This will allow you to have more room for your living area while still enjoying the comforts of having a pool in your backyard.

Sources:

https://www.brpoolsusa.com/how-to-choose-the-right-swimming-pool-size-for-your-family-and-your-home/

https://www.waterair.com/gb/pools-and-equipment/pools/swimming-pool-sizes

https://www.riverpoolsandspas.com/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-swimming-pool-size