Thoughts on Child Fences

[mculik5]

We have a very large backyard that is fenced in with a pool fence that meets our local and insurance requirements. The pool is fairly close to the house, and has a separate fence made up of picket sections and deck railing where the wood deck meets the pool deck. It doesn't meet the requirements to be a standalone pool fence (the deck railings are too low, etc.), but it gives us peace of mind that if our young daughter were to get out of the house, she would have a tough time getting to the pool.

When we bought the house, we had to have a heating oil tank removed from the ground that happened to be underneath part of the deck. Long story short, that part of the deck (and the railing/pool fence associated with it) had to be removed, and we are now putting a patio in that area. Without getting into all the details, we are having a problem with what kind of fencing to use to separate the patio from the pool.

Separating these two areas is very important to us, as we want to have the entire pool fenced separately from the other outdoor areas for child safety. Again, we already have a code-compliant fence for the yard, so this is purely a safety issue.

One kind of fencing that seems like it might work is temporary child fencing, like Protect-a-Child. Questions:

- Anyone here have this kind of fencing?
- Do you like it?
- Does it truly enhance safety?
- Is it as easy to install/remove as the videos make it seem?
- Is it truly maintenance free?
- Does it stand up to daily life well? Kids messing with it, dogs jumping on it, wind, etc.?
- Any brands you recommend?

Thanks for your help!

 

[jkrupp]

We had attempted to install one of those fences and honestly it seemed a little flimsy to me (for example, it was difficult to get the peg holes perfectly straight and flush and so we were told to just "bend the poles a bit"). However, seems like most everyone I know uses them, and you really never hear about any trouble with them or lawsuits / recalls. Seemed pretty easy to remove too, for say a weekend pool party. Just lift them out of the holes, roll them up and set aside.

So I think they are probably very safe, and convenient. We opted to just build our own safety fence w/ lumber and hardware cloth.

 

[Tanner M]

Baby-loc is the company we used. I love it!

 

[Killer95Stang]

We have the protect a kid type fence that separates our pool area and pool deck from the rest of the backyard. We also have 2 year old. I left the gate open on purpose to see how important it was to have the gate. My daughter noticed the gate and was at the pool touching the water within two minutes. She was inside the house and had to open the screen door then go 30 ft and up stairs. That pretty much scared me and also made me glad I spent the extra money to ensure our child's safety. She has tried to open the gate, but cant.

 

[eg1]

We used the "protect-a-child" version to surround our pool when our children were small. We did not use a gate, but rather unhinged sections while the pool was in use. It was very effective, and we did not find that it significantly detracted from the esthetics of the pool area. Once they were old enough we removed it and left the plastic winter covers in the pole holes.

I recommend it for peace of mind. YMMV

 

[isriam]

i have used protect a child, wrought iron, and katch a kid. i prefer the protect a child the best because it can be removed when you no longer need it, looks ok, and will keep your kids out of the pool. its a little more flimsy than a standard iron fence, but i see no way a kid under 5 or 6 could get into the pool. also we went with no gate, and just detach two sections that open and swing out and drop into additional holes. save the money from a gate and just use the fence itself as a gate.