Retaining wall and fence question

[Crickets]

So we need a retaining wall around most of our pool. My question is: Will my retaining wall need a fence around it if it is over a certain height? Similar to the way a deck needs a railing if it is over a certain height (for home insurance/ permit purposes)?

 

[cowboycasey]

I have not seen any fence on any of the retaining walls shown on here, but every state is different, maybe ask the inspector or city hall??

 

[bmoreswim]

There are two sides of the coin. One is for exterior access, which is normally taken care of by a fence. If the fence requirements are met by the retaining wall, and the inspector sees it that way, then you would be ok. However i suspect that the requirements may not be met. For example, our fence needs to be 48" high. Most retaining walls are not 48" above grade.
The second piece is from a fall off the deck perspective. Our decking ends on top of a retaining wall. The deck to ground level could not exceed 30" or I would have needed a railing (not a fence). The fence would still be needed outside of that in our case. We graded the dirt up to be 30" or less to eliminate the railing requirement.
But as Cowboycasey said, it's all about your local requirements. Check for deck/railing requirements and also for pool/fence requirements.

 

[Crickets]

There are two sides of the coin. One is for exterior access, which is normally taken care of by a fence. If the fence requirements are met by the retaining wall, and the inspector sees it that way, then you would be ok. However i suspect that the requirements may not be met. For example, our fence needs to be 48" high. Most retaining walls are not 48" above grade.
The second piece is from a fall off the deck perspective. Our decking ends on top of a retaining wall. The deck to ground level could not exceed 30" or I would have needed a railing (not a fence). The fence would still be needed outside of that in our case. We graded the dirt up to be 30" or less to eliminate the railing requirement.
But as Cowboycasey said, it's all about your local requirements. Check for deck/railing requirements and also for pool/fence requirements.

Thanks! Thats what I was curious about. Our yard already has a fence around it which the PB believes will satisfy the fence requirement. However I was worried that the height of our decking/retaining wall might need a railing/fence. I'll check to see what the local requirements are exactly around here.

 

[bdavis466]

Does the deck or pool edge go to the top of the retaining wall? If it's the pool, nearly any height should be fine but the deck will be another story.

According to the 2007 edition of the KRC #10, variations greater than 30" require railing. The height of the actual railing is also specified based on material usage. This information sheet can be found HERE.