Child safety questions

[amesaway]

Hi everyone,

We just bought a house with a pool. The yard is fenced, but the pool is not fenced away from the house. The pool doesn't have a safety cover or anything like that. The house does not currently have any door alarms, the french doors just have a normal knob lock, etc.

We have young twins who both have autism and downing is the leading cause of death in children with autism so are looking for the best ways to secure things. We've already enrolled them in ISR swim lessons and will finish the lessons before we move into the house.

What else should we do? Are fences worth it? If a fence, do we do the removable kind or the 'forever' kind? Safety net? Door alarms or door locks that the kids can't reach? Something else that I'm not thinking of?

Thanks for any advice.
~Amy

 

[bmoreswim]

I'm thrilled you are taking time to review the issue.

Can you post a picture or three of your backyard setup? It will help with the replies since the layout often affects product choices.

 

[ping]

We went with this, THE SAFEST AND STRONGEST POOL FENCE. #1 Swimming Pool Safety Fencing with Pool Gate. We have a lockable gate with it.

Pictures of the yard will get you more accurate advice from us.

 

[amesaway]

View attachment 74253

View attachment 74254

Good point. Here are pictures of the yard/pool. It seems like we could just put a fence in a straight line from where the trellis runs against the house to the back fence. The pool is basically surrounded by fence on 3 sides. If I go from fence to fence, it's about 65 feet. If I go from that corner of the house where the trellis starts, it is 45 feet to the back fence.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Keyed door deadbolts that are placed high out of reach.

If you have some bucks to spend consider an autocover that opens and closes the pool as desired. Pricey but a serious safety feature.

Door alarms (even cheaper ones) that just emit a loud chirp noise when doors are opened/shut.

A fence that is very attractive (usually black) can work and you could always remove it when the boys are teens...?

Just some fast ideas.

Maddie

 

[riley00dog]

Fences are most definitely worth it. Check out our fencing regulations in Australia online to give you an idea. I can give you some more basic info if you like as we’re not far off fencing. In your situation, you can not be too careful. Fence, pool alarm (you can get cheap solar powered ones for under $200 here) and alarms on doors/windows. For winter, if you won’t be swimming, I’d look at a child safe cover. All furniture well away from fence. Unfortunately all the precautions aren’t enough for some kids. It’s very sensible of you to be making your pool kid safe.

 

[smracing]

Katchakid.

 

[amesaway]

Thanks everyone.

Ping or Bmoreswim - since I posted pictures, do you have other thoughts?

 

[Killer95Stang]

I like the idea of a 5 foot permanent fence going from the corner of your house all the way across to connect with the 6 foot wood fence. This would create a separate pool area of your backyard and could probably be made to look like it was planned from the beginning. If it was just small children, then the a standard removable safety mesh type fence would work in my opinion. Since you are dealing with something more serious like Autism, I think something more permanent is in order.

In California, 5 ft is the requirement for fence height, so house door/ window alarms aren't required.

If you have an alarm system with wireless sensor capabilities, you could always rig up a wireless contact to trigger when the fence opens. Then it could send you phone notifications... but I'm getting ahead of myself here. (nerd in me).

 

[bmoreswim]

I agree that going from the house corner to back of the lot fence would look quite nice and seem to work well. Is there access to the pool from the house in the side of the house? If so, I’d install a key lock that would only be unlocked if you were by the pool yourself so long as it doesn’t create an exit safety hazard from the inside.

Black aluminum will be easy to see through and attractive.

 

[voltrons_head]

I have these locks at the top of our doors accessing the pool as well as the chime from our alarm system.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004RL1IMC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1


View attachment 74421

 

[hollywood!]

Hi everyone,

We just bought a house with a pool. The yard is fenced, but the pool is not fenced away from the house. The pool doesn't have a safety cover or anything like that. The house does not currently have any door alarms, the french doors just have a normal knob lock, etc.

We have young twins who both have autism and downing is the leading cause of death in children with autism so are looking for the best ways to secure things. We've already enrolled them in ISR swim lessons and will finish the lessons before we move into the house.

What else should we do? Are fences worth it? If a fence, do we do the removable kind or the 'forever' kind? Safety net? Door alarms or door locks that the kids can't reach? Something else that I'm not thinking of?

Thanks for any advice.
~Amy

Amy,

We 100% would recommend a proper pool fence. Heaven forbid a kid goes out, an alarm is likely to slow. Pool fence is ugly as ****, but when my kids were little we had and would not.let them go anywhere that didn't!

 

[zea3]

I would recommend a locking gate, and a fence tall enough it could not be climbed over. A fence you can see through is also important. You don't want to put a wood privacy fence around the pool that blocks sight lines in case a child gets inside the fence without your knowledge.

 

[themiskateers]

Hard to see from this picture but i will get a better one when i get home. We had the same issue with a 2 year old. As you can see we really did not have any room for a fence around the pool so what we did was add gates around our french doors so if she was able to open the door then the gate would keep her in the house.

 

[iain42]

We are worried about unwanted guest using our pool. We have setup a Ring Floodlight Cam. It is one of the best security devices I have ever purchased and I've tried most everything. You can set a motion alert zone around your pool. You can set a schedule. You can set the size of motion to set the alarm off from animal to person. The cam is setup on wifi and the alarms can go to a wifi doorbell/alarm which you can plug in anywhere in the house. The alerts can also be sent to your smart phone. The video is HD. I would recommend it for anyone with a pool.

https://shop.ring.com/products/floodlight-cam

 

[PoolguyinCT]

OP - check your PM.

-ray

 

[PoolguyinCT]

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[PoolguyinCT]

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accidental reply

 

[chiefwej]

We have rear doors that lead to our pool also. Three small (under 4) grandchildren that live right across the street. We have locks 5 foot up on doors, alarms on all doors, and have added a fence with a pool code approved gate that separates the covered patio from the pool. It actually helps make the patio an outdoor room. Here are some Picts.









It looks like you could do something similar. Whatever you decide, make sure those kiddos are safe.

 

[PoolguyinCT]

Water Safety for Kids Commission on Women, Children and Seniors

I am a member of the linked panel. The link will bring you to resources concerning autism/water & general pool safety.



OP - let me know if you need anymore info.
Ray