Custom safety covers, seasonal openings and closings and equipment repair for Chagrin Falls — where autumn leaf fall decides more about a pool than most people expect. Family-owned since 2012.
Chagrin Falls is built around the falls on the Chagrin River, in a valley with a mature tree canopy. That is lovely, and it is the single biggest seasonal variable for a pool here.
A heavy canopy changes three things. It changes how much debris the pool takes in during the season, it changes which kind of cover suits the property, and it changes when the pool wants closing. The rest of this page is about the second and third, because those are the ones where a decision gets made once and lived with for years.
Every custom safety cover is one or the other, and neither is the right answer everywhere. Under a lot of trees the trade-off sharpens.
A mesh cover lets water through the fabric. Rain and snowmelt drain into the pool, so nothing stands on top and no cover pump is involved.
A solid cover does not pass water. It blocks debris and it blocks light, which suppresses algae growth over the winter.
So what we usually talk through in Chagrin Falls. Neither material is a default here. Mesh trades a dirtier spring for a winter that looks after itself; solid trades a cleaner spring for a cover you have to check after storms. If a property is under a heavy canopy and nobody is going to be watching a cover pump in January, that is a real argument, and it should be part of the conversation rather than discovered later.
A leaf net is the third option, and it works with either. A lightweight net goes over the cover for the few weeks the trees are actually dropping, then comes off and takes the bulk of the leaf load with it. It is not a substitute for a safety cover — it is not a safety device at all — but it removes most of the argument above.
See safety covers for what we install, and safety cover installation for how a fit works, including what your deck material means for the anchors.
One thing that is not on the menu: stock sizes. We install custom covers only, measured on site, made by Merlin and GLI. A rectangle cover pulled off a shelf and stretched over a freeform pool with roman steps and a raised wall is not a fit, and on a sloped valley deck it is less of one.
Leaves dry out on the surface and a good number of them blow off on their own. What is left comes off with a blower or a broom without you fighting standing water.
The fine stuff goes through. Pollen, dust, fine organic debris and the tannins that leach out of wet leaves pass into the water all winter. The pool opens dirtier and tinted, and the opening takes more filtration and more chemical work to clear.
The water underneath is genuinely protected. Openings are cleaner and quicker.
It needs a cover pump, and that pump has to keep working. Rain and snowmelt pool on top, and if wet leaves settle into that water you get a heavy sludge sitting on the fabric. That is weight on the cover and its anchors, and it is a mess to clear in March.
A cover pump sitting in standing water on a solid cover
This is the other decision the canopy forces, and it cuts against instinct.
Closing before the leaves fall is usually the better trade. The leaves then land on the cover, where they are a nuisance you can manage, rather than in the water, where they sink, break down, stain the surfaces and load the filter.
Closing after the leaves fall means the pool has spent several weeks collecting them. It also means you are closing later in the season, and Chagrin Falls is about 11 miles from Lake Erie — mid-gradient, so the lake buys you a little autumn but not much.
In practice we book the date and treat it as movable. A booked date can shift later if the weather is kind. An unbooked pool in the first hard week of November is competing with every other unbooked pool in Northeast Ohio. See pool closing service.
And the reason a date exists at all is freeze damage. Water left in a return line, a pump volute or a heat exchanger expands as it freezes and freeze-cracks the housing around it. That destroys the component rather than injuring it — a split exchanger or a cracked underground line is a replacement, and it is not a warranty matter, because it follows from how the pool was closed. See pool openings and closings.
An in-ground pool under a safety cover in mid-winter with settled snow on it and the strap lines showing through, nobody in frame
“After having different companies open and close our pools, and then having M & G Pools, I would never have anyone else! They are extremely professional, kind, efficient, and knowledgeable. They definitely go out of their way to help their customers.”
Tell us what you need and when.
Worth knowing during the season, not just at the end of it.
A skimmer basket packed with leaves starves the pump, and a starved pump runs hot and noisy. Emptying baskets is part of every chemical and equipment check we do.
Organic debris raises pressure across the filter faster than dust does, so backwash and cleaning intervals shorten in the autumn. See pool filter repair.
Organic load is chlorine demand. A pool under trees runs through sanitiser faster than an open-yard pool of the same size, which is worth knowing before you conclude something is wrong with the chemistry.
A pool equipment pad with pump, filter and heater
We do not publish a mile radius — reach varies by service type and season. The full list of towns is on service areas. Note that Chagrin Falls shares the 44022 ZIP with Moreland Hills, so a ZIP-based search will mix the two; we list them separately.
Chagrin Falls is in Cuyahoga County, so a commercial, HOA or semi-public pool here is licensed and inspected through the Cuyahoga County health district — not the Summit County authority covering Twinsburg, Hudson and Stow. We work on both sides of that line.
A shared amenity in-ground pool with a wide deck and perimeter fencing, plant-room door closed at one end, nobody present
We do not clean pools — no vacuuming, brushing or skimming as a weekly service. That is worth stating plainly on a page about leaf load: our maintenance covers water chemistry, baskets, filter backwashing and an equipment operation check, and most of our service customers have a robotic cleaner handling the surfaces.
No above-ground pools, no hot tubs, no spas.
No stock or standard sizes.
There is no default under a heavy canopy. Mesh drains rain and snowmelt through and needs no pump, so leaves dry on top and much of it blows off — but fine debris and leaf tannins pass into the water and the pool opens dirtier. Solid keeps everything out including light, so the opening is cleaner — but it needs a cover pump kept working, and wet leaves in standing water make a heavy sludge on the fabric. We talk it through against your property rather than assuming.
No. We install custom covers only, measured on site, made by Merlin and GLI. A shelf rectangle stretched over a freeform pool with roman steps and a raised wall is not a fit, and on a sloped deck it is less of one.
Usually before. Then the leaves land on the cover, where they are a nuisance you can manage, rather than in the water, where they sink, stain the surfaces and load the filter. Closing later also pushes you toward the weeks when everybody else is calling.
No. A leaf net is a lightweight sheet that goes over the cover for the few weeks the trees are dropping and then comes off with the bulk of the leaves. It is not a safety device and it is not a substitute for one — it works alongside a safety cover, not instead of it.
Organic load is chlorine demand. Decomposing leaves consume sanitiser, so a pool under a mature canopy runs through it faster than an open-yard pool of the same size. That is worth ruling out before concluding something is wrong with the equipment or the chemistry.
Chagrin Falls is in Cuyahoga County, so a commercial, HOA or semi-public pool here is licensed and inspected through the Cuyahoga County health district — not the Summit County authority covering Twinsburg, Hudson and Stow.
