At what age would you remove a pool safety fence?

[Anonymous]

We are building a pool at our new house. We will not be putting a fence up. Youngest is 12 and a strong swimmer. Oldest is a competitive swimmer and lifeguard. Yard is walled/fenced from neighbors but we're not putting a fence around the actual pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check with your insurance before you do anything.

But as a former lifeguard and pool manager, I’d say leave it up. Even kids who can swim can get into trouble if they hit their heads diving in, or crack their head on the side falling off a float.

And if your kid has friends over, 8 is old enough that you don’t need to have eyes on them all the time. But you can’t guarantee they won’t decide to flout your house rules and go swimming.

+1 Also a former lifeguard and pool manager.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never. No age.

+1000

You have neighbors and other people around you. Never.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:
Never take it down. A friend of mine drowned on his 18th birthday.

I'm sorry to hear that, but would a safety fence have prevented it? Did he fall in while running in the yard or something?

While swimming, drunk, with friends after his parents went to bed.

so a fence would not have helped in this case.

It would if it was complicated enough that he’d be too drunk to work it.

Or if it were the alarmed kind that alerted his parents someone was in the pool.

OP, your kid is eight now. But in a few years, you will need to worry about the boneheaded things teens do in a group. Leave the fence or, better yet, upgrade it.

[Anonymous]

We have the same set up as you described. We’re keeping the safety fence up. Apparently someone climbed the outside fence and drowned in the pool before we lived in the house and when there was only the outside fence. We want to keep that extra layer of protection.

[Anonymous]

Never.

You never know when a neighborhood kid might make a fatal decision, and you never know when such kids might arrive in your neighborhood...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have the same set up as you described. We’re keeping the safety fence up. Apparently someone climbed the outside fence and drowned in the pool before we lived in the house and when there was only the outside fence. We want to keep that extra layer of protection.

Yikes. I wouldn't have bought the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are building a pool at our new house. We will not be putting a fence up. Youngest is 12 and a strong swimmer. Oldest is a competitive swimmer and lifeguard. Yard is walled/fenced from neighbors but we're not putting a fence around the actual pool.

You are the reason there need to be laws in place in every state for this.

Imagine you're having a big party. Parents come with kids of various ages, everyone is chatting, no one has their eyes peeled on their kid every second, and lines of sight are blocked by the number of people. It takes a couple of minutes for a toddler to fall in and drown.

[Anonymous]

Re drowning in the pool - we found out after moving in from a random neighbor who didn’t know we lived there. Neighbors who knew never told us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are building a pool at our new house. We will not be putting a fence up. Youngest is 12 and a strong swimmer. Oldest is a competitive swimmer and lifeguard. Yard is walled/fenced from neighbors but we're not putting a fence around the actual pool.

You are the reason there need to be laws in place in every state for this.

Imagine you're having a big party. Parents come with kids of various ages, everyone is chatting, no one has their eyes peeled on their kid every second, and lines of sight are blocked by the number of people. It takes a couple of minutes for a toddler to fall in and drown.

Not PP, but their yard is walled/fenced. They shouldn't have to live their life around a hypothetical toddler party scenario. Pools CAN be dangerous but a law requiring double fencing is rather extreme.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are building a pool at our new house. We will not be putting a fence up. Youngest is 12 and a strong swimmer. Oldest is a competitive swimmer and lifeguard. Yard is walled/fenced from neighbors but we're not putting a fence around the actual pool.

You are the reason there need to be laws in place in every state for this.

Imagine you're having a big party. Parents come with kids of various ages, everyone is chatting, no one has their eyes peeled on their kid every second, and lines of sight are blocked by the number of people. It takes a couple of minutes for a toddler to fall in and drown.

Not PP, but their yard is walled/fenced. They shouldn't have to live their life around a hypothetical toddler party scenario. Pools CAN be dangerous but a law requiring double fencing is rather extreme.

PP. Our pool is in compliance with local laws-fully walled/fenced off and locked from to the outside. Not in the DC area. This set up is VERY common where we are. The only people with double fences have very young kids.

Sorry, not sorry, but I'm not putting up another fence in the off chance a toddler comes over. Odds of that are slim to none as my kids are older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are building a pool at our new house. We will not be putting a fence up. Youngest is 12 and a strong swimmer. Oldest is a competitive swimmer and lifeguard. Yard is walled/fenced from neighbors but we're not putting a fence around the actual pool.

You are the reason there need to be laws in place in every state for this.

Imagine you're having a big party. Parents come with kids of various ages, everyone is chatting, no one has their eyes peeled on their kid every second, and lines of sight are blocked by the number of people. It takes a couple of minutes for a toddler to fall in and drown.

Not PP, but their yard is walled/fenced. They shouldn't have to live their life around a hypothetical toddler party scenario. Pools CAN be dangerous but a law requiring double fencing is rather extreme.

We have several friends like this; big yard that is fenced, but no fence around the actual pool and pool is accessed from finished lower level/basement with sliding doors or maybe the main level. I am always on edge with my 4 yr old at houses like this at parties.