Backyard safety should never take a back seat to your backyard aesthetics with a pool present. More than 800 kids drown every year, making accidental drowning the number one cause of death in children under five and a leading cause of accidental death well into adulthood. As a responsible pool owner, you can’t afford to risk neglecting swimming pool safety for the sake of appearances, but that doesn’t mean you have to have an ugly pool area either. With planning, forethought, and help from your local Lifeguard on Duty pool safety professional, you can create a pool area that focuses on both backyard safety and beauty.
When You Can’t Supervise, There Should Be a Lifeguard on Duty
Pool safety has come a long way from the traditional chain link or wrought iron fences that were hallmarks of backyard pools in years gone by–if there was even a pool fence at all. Modern safety installations use state-of-the-art materials, professional design, and experienced installation professionals to create ASTM-compliant safety solutions for your backyard pool. Far from a cookie-cutter approach, these options can be tailored to fit your pool’s layout, surrounding structures, your expected pool usage habits, and your budget.
| Removable Mesh Pool Fencing | Mesh pool fencing has quickly become a favorite for backyard pool safety. By installing strong poles in anchor holes sunk into the deck or ground, a mesh fabric that is low-maintenance and damage-resistant is stretched taught, helping to prevent climbing. When combined with small gaps and a self-closing and latching gate, it creates a secure fence that deters unsupervised access to the pool area. |
| Swimming Pool Safety Nets | As a second line of defense, these strong nets are anchored to points around the pool, tensioned with springs, and secured to hold the net above the water. Pets and children have trouble walking onto the net more than a few inches from the edge, leaving them suspended up and out of the water until help arrives to pull them to safety. |
| Pool Safety Covers | Using a strong material similar to the mesh fencing in pool fences, a pool safety cover contributes to backyard safety by giving you a strong, taut cover that’s anchored to the pool’s edge, leaving a flat surface strong enough to support the weight of a grown adult falling towards, lying prone, or walking on it. |
Flexible Backyard Pool Safety
One of the reasons these modern backyard safety installations are becoming so popular is how well they still let you play with the aesthetics of your pool area, creating a safer pool that doesn’t look like a prison splash pad. Covers and nets install quickly, and pool covers prevent leaves and debris from entering your pool while giving the pool a flat, trimmed look when the pool is closed.
Mesh pool fencing is designed to allow you to see through it to watch swimmers or take in the view while drifting on the water but can be removed to allow more backyard space for larger events, like pool parties or barbecues. While these backyard safety features don’t detract from your aesthetics, they do require some planning to make sure the safe appearances aren’t deceiving because of their focus on beauty.
Creating a Safe, Attractive Swiming Pool Area
When designing backyard aesthetics with a pool, you have to consider how your structures, features, decorations, furniture, and accessories will impact your backyard safety. Pets and kids are curious, and that curiosity can lead to bad decisions, such as not understanding that just because they can get past the pool fence doesn’t mean they should. Adults whose judgment or physical abilities are compromised might find themselves risking injury trying to enter the pool area or injured by hazards that haven’t been mitigated. When designing your backyard’s appearance, keep these factors in mind:
- Measuring your pool fence’s height needs to be done from the ground level outside the pool fence. – If you have a raised sidewalk or flagstones near your pool fence, measure your height from the top of a stone to the top of the fence to ensure your fence has sufficient height to prevent easy climbing. In fact…
- Make sure any items that could aid climbing are at least 5-feet from your pool fence or secured inside the fence. – Lawn chairs, ladders, decorative rocks, lawn ornaments, and coolers can all become handy step-ups that enable kids or pets to get over any pool fence. 5-Feet gives you an adequate space to make jumping over the fence difficult on all but the most athletic climbers and jumpers.
- Keep electricity away from the water. – Sound systems, lights, and other appliances can enhance your backyard aesthetics and pool activities, but you need to keep backyard safety in mind. Electrical wires would be grounded, routed to avoid areas likely to contact water, and have safety components installed to prevent electric shock. Choose appliances designed for outdoor or pool use, and make sure you’re following the manufacturer’s instructions to the letter to avoid electrocution.
- Keep your yard clean and your landscaping kept up. – Debris and refuse can easily create hazards and make your backyard pool area look trashy. Glass bottles or cups can easily get broken, creating cutting hazards that disappear almost completely in water. Trees should be kept trimmed and directed away from arcing over your removable mesh pool fencing, and other landscaping should be kept trimmed back to provide a beautiful, well-kept environment that allows clear lines of site for adults supervising pool activities.
- Work with, don’t fight existing structures. – Sheds, pump housings, and other permanent, non-movable yard features aren’t going anywhere, so design your backyard safety plan to account for them. Whether you rout a fence around a shed, put a gate on your pergola entrance and fence the rest, or extend your fence to anchor to an adjacent house wall, using your back yard’s permanent aesthetics with your pool safety plan to create a secure area.
- Invest in quality backyard safety equipment that fits your lifestyle. – When considering your pool fence or a pool cover, don’t sacrifice quality to save a few bucks. Professionally installed removable mesh pool fencing, swimming pool safety covers, and even pool nets can be designed to support your eye-catching pool and landscaping to give you a pool area you’re proud of.
Schedule A Visit With Your Local Installer
Our professional pool safety experts live in the communities they serve, so you have an experienced installer right down the street. When you schedule a no-cost, no-obligation estimate, they’ll talk to you about your swimming pool needs, take measurements, and give you a quote in writing that lays out your backyard safety options, For many pool owners, the peace of mind that comes with a safer pool is a budget-friendly property upgrade that meets insurance, HOA, and regulatory requirements. Contact us to schedule your free quote from Lifeguard on Duty today.
