How do you handle drying off before entering the house? Tips, tricks, products?

[jd-gtown]

Hi All - This seems somewhat like a no brainer question, but after only a few dips in our new pool its become clear that having a good strategy for getting everyone dried off before entering the house is a must or we are going to have quite a mess on our hands. Its country living where we are at so lots of dust and dirt on the deck, mixed with wet feet = muddy tracks. Our pool deck leads up to our porch, which is tile, also has dust most of the time as well, then that leads into the house, which is tile. There are 2 entry points, one into the living room and the other into the family room, so no easy place to have a bathroom/changing room entry of some kind. If everyone uses their towels to completely dry off and wipe their feet before stepping in, you can "kinda" get away with it, but we'll have a stack of muddy towels every day to deal with. Other issue is where to hang towels and wet bathing suits. The wind picks up here quite a bit and the "drape them on the lawn chair" method usually means they will find their way to out to the yard. I dont know if theres any good mats or something that would help. Would love to hear any suggestions or ideas to help make "De-Pooling" and cleanup a lot easier for the family and kids.

Thanks
JD

 

[JohnT]

One of the very reasons we built a poolhouse with a bath/changing room. In addition to the mess, it is uncomfortable stepping into the air-conditioned house when you are wet.

All the wet suits and towels stay in the poolhouse and so does the dripping water.

 

[MiaOKC]

When we bought a house with a pool, my Florida cousin immediately shipped me a towel drying rack made out of PVC and said it would become a lifesaver! It's ugly as sin, but she's right - we use it all summer long. You could anchor it in or use a base like an umbrella stand with sand/weight to keep it from flying away. Ours is just on a very tiny sheltered porch overhang but stays put because I have pots and plants and stuff all around it. They also make towel clips (you see them at grocery stores in FL sometimes) to clip towels to your lawn chairs - there may be something similar you could use to keep towels clipped to a rack to dry. And we throw our suits out there, with goggles, fins, etc, too. I'm going to add some hooks in our laundry room because I have clean suits draped over all the cabinet doors all summer long (I machine wash but don't dry them). And I'm going to add some more hooks to our powder room, too, for when guests come and change into their suits when they arrive. We end up with lots of bags and purses in the laundry room because it's adjacent to the powder bath.

We have regular door mats (one from Ikea, one from Target) inside and outside the patio door, which helps a little bit. But summer is just a time when I pretty much expect footprints from the patio door across the hardwoods to the bathroom (and this is just DH & I, no kids!)

 

[Readyforapool]

I was thinking about this the other day. We have a narrow hallway as you come in from the patio that's carpeted leading into the family room on the left. Right now I have a doormat outside and a throw rug inside but I don't think either are going to help much! Luckily the powder room is a right turn from the hallway so that helps. I would love to put hardwoods in or maybe laminate would be better with the dogs and the pool, but I'm thinking the carpet will probably need to go! Haven't figured out what to do with towels yet but it's pretty windy so better put on my thinking cap!

 

[Casey]

I hate walking into the AC when wet! My husband keeps it at 65 degrees!!! OMG... I will get out of the pool and go sit on the hillside and get some sun and basically drip dry. I'd sit for up to 45 minutes and then go in. Hubby would just get out and go in. Doesn't really matter because he goes in through the kitchen and the dogs have dirt everywhere to begin with. I have to mop at least twice a week and I pulled all the carpet out of our house last January to expose the hardwood floors.