Getting an inground pool installed in your backyard can be a fun and exciting experience for homeowners. It’s a great place to gather with family and friends, cool off on a hot summer day, play water pool or do some lap swimming. But to ensure your investment is worth every penny, it’s important to take this decision seriously and choose the right options for you, your family and your property.
There are many things to consider when deciding about the best pool options for your backyard, and one of them is how big should your inground pool be? For homeowners in the higher density areas in Toronto, a related question is whether there is a minimum size for a pool and whether your backyard is big enough to fit an inground pool.
What is the minimum size requirement for an inground pool in the GTA
While backyards in the Greater Toronto Area come in all sizes, homes in downtown Toronto generally tend to have smaller backyards than homes in Mississauga or Burlington. But just because you have a small backyard doesn’t mean you cannot have an inground pool installed. An experienced swimming pool contractor knows that it is all about proportions when designing the layout of your pool in your backyard.
It is all about proportions when designing a backyard pool
While there is no legal requirement to dictate how big your pool should be, from an aesthetics and functionality perspective, you don’t want to walk out to your backyard and just see a swimming pool. You want to have space to hang out and lounge around the pool. You also want some space to eat outside when the weather is nice or have an area for the kids to play round the grass.
Go with the biggest pool that best fits how you plan to use your pool and backyard
For many of the backyard pools that we have installed, the pool takes up about 30% of their backyard, and about 50% of the backyard is covered in hard surface such as interlocking or concrete with the remaining area as soft surface like grass or soil and plants to allow for water to drain.
Given the size of investment in installing an inground pool, the price of a 15×30 pool is not that much more than a 10×10 pool, since the other costs such as digging, framing, plumbing will be the same. As we have also pointed out in our previous article of pool depths, if you would like a pool that gives you the option to dive into an 8’ deep end, you will need a pool of at least 36’ to 40’.
Below are two examples of a pool layout using a similar sized pool, with the left one being installed in a small backyard in downtown Toronto while the right one is installed in a bigger backyard in Brampton.
Bigger backyard in Brampton with a 10’x20’ pool
Smaller backyard in Toronto doing a 10’x18’ pool
Contact us for a pool design consultation
If you are a homeowner in the GTA and thinking about installing a fibreglass or vinyl-lined inground pool in your backyard, contact us and we will answer any questions you may have about the best sized pool for your home.
