Fence it. No Ifs, No And, No Buts. And tall enough she can't compromise it with a chair. Or the little boy she'll play with when she's 5 and the backs are turned.

we have a katch-a-kid pool net. It has been in for about 2-2.5 years. we went with the net instead of the fence mainly because of the location of our pool - i felt a fence would feel too intrusive in the feel of the whole yard (as the pool is in the exact center of our backyard). but we also came to understand that the net (as long as you use it) is safer than a fence (due to kids being able to pull a chair alongside the fence and climb over). our 2 yo son is quite a climber, so i can see this happening.
the net is invisible enough and we can still experience (see) all of our yard and plants from the house, so that is nice.
however, the net is a PAIN. you will likely use your pool less as you wont want to take the net off. we did find ourselves leaving the net off on a few hot weekends last summer because we knew we wanted to swim both saturday and sunday (we installed door locks at the top of the doors and just kept those locked over those weekends - I have to say that I did not feel at all comfortable while the net was off). While the net is on, i feel totally comfortable letting my son run around the back yard.
katch-a-kid has a lifetime warranty on the net. which has been good, because parts of it have broken at different times (due to the tension on the net). we just call them and they come right out and fix it (no charge). two times it was just one little piece that broke (this has no short-term impact on safety), but one time, the main harness broke so we couldnt tighten it. they came out the next day. i dont know if others are better and wont break, but at least they come fix it for free. (cant say that about the company that installed our solar panels!).
anyway, good luck.

hi eimea -

I remember you from the old days - I think we were building around the same time (or yours was just built).

Congrats on the kidlet!

The most foolproof - but costly - safety feature is to install an automatic safety cover. The automatic covers provide the safety of a solid cover (plus the heat and chemical-saving properties) without the hassle of putting on or taking off a manual cover.

That depends on the deck area as to whether she can accommodate the tracks and storage roller assembly.

Hello AM - Long time no post! Yes, I remember you too... way back in 2005! Can you believe it has been that long? Nice to see you are still active on the forum. I would assume the traffic here will pick up quite a bit with spring and summer on our heels.

Between fertility forums, pregnancy forums, baby forums, mommy forums, breastfeeding forums, etc - I have zero time for pool forums, until now!

Our pool is actually freeform so automatic covers aren't in the cards for us.

I like the look of the net, so the yard is not obstucted, but the fence seems more flexible... but we have some time, since she is only a month old.

Have you swam yet? Polar bear on new years?

Freeform doesn't exclude you from the cover. Do you have a pic you can share?

before landscaping...

How about removable fencing such as Baby-Loc ?

Here is a link that might be useful: Baby-Loc Web Site

We went way over the top. We had a fence and a pool cover. Our boys are now teenagers so we have gone through 3 covers. We had the solid cover ( the type you can drive a car over ) unfortunately the horses thought they were solid and stepped on the cover whilst walking past. The cover is not warranted for that. After two of those we switched to the net type. I way preferred that type. You can see your water. The dirt does not accumulate on top. When it rains you have to pump the water off the solid covers. The dogs and horses stay off of the net. Why both? When we had parties and the kids were done playing the cover would go on, but the adults are still hanging, eating, and drinking around the pool. We had a two year old come to the hospital, where I worked, who had drowned. Growing up the neighbour's boy drowned. This was during the time we were deciding what to do. It was an easy decision to go with both safety guards. It is amazing how many adults can be around a pool and yet no one is watching the children. We also started having one adult sit by themselves, in turn, watching the kids play.

I am also interested in safety fencing for my pool. Can BabyLoc be drilled into bluestone? Poolguynj, where in NJ are you? I am in the Princeton area and may be in need of a new pool person. Are you on your own or associated with a company/store?

The email on my page works. I like to keep this sort of local stuff off the forum. Yes I am in your area. :-)

Scott

Rob, Haven't heard back and wanted to followup.

Scott

I too am worried about kids drowning in the pool. I don't really want to put anything up because anything I put up is going to either look bad or cause me to use the pool less. But, the most important thing is my young daughter's safety!!

I have enclosed a picture of the pool; its kinda odd shaped. What do you guys and gals think? Ultimately, I would like something that is VERY safe, fairly easy adult access to the pool, and could eventually be removed permanently.

What do you think?

Here are two links of the backyard, and the pool.

http://clipmaker4.smugmug.com/photos/491407341_XJfLH-S.jpg
http://clipmaker4.smugmug.com/photos/491406534_UPX3V-M.jpg

A properly installed Baby-Loc will do exactly what you want. It's light weight, easily removable by an adult for access, and is available in a 54" height. Most others are only 48" in height.

Properly installed means core drilled. This ensures vertical poles and straight lines that keep the black mesh taught and nearly invisible. A gate is not required but is available. Many people simply open a space between two sections to make a 30" opening.

It comes in 5, 10 and 20' lengths. I don't like the 20s though as removal becomes somewhat ungainly. It only takes one person to put up and take down.

The sections are interchangeable so you don't have to track which went where, except for one. The one is a field modified section as the fence perimeter rarely comes to exactly the end of a section. Of the 10s of thousands of feet I've installed, it's happened exactly once.

Scott

The child saftey fencing (by various names) is by far the best device and can be removed once you are comfortable with the childs swimming ability.

As we can see in this thread, the problem is that homeowners want something completly invisible that magically prevents tragedy. If they can see it at all or it takes an extra 5 seconds to access the pool, they dont want it, and choose something inferior. This whole time they insist their #1 concern is their children.

How about invisible fencing and shock collars? They can double as cardiac defibrillaters.

Seriously, NOBODY should swim alone,EVER. But the best defense is da-fence (and learning how to swim).

I totally agree with what Mikethepoolguy is saying. The best thing is to teach kids to swim. I have already looked into doing that for my daughter. Kids aren't the only ones who fall in. We have two yorkies who push each other in the pool too. We taught them how to swim (most dogs do this naturally anyway) and how to exit. Also, adults can fall in ... drunk or whatever.

Unfortunately, aesthetics, and ease of use just don't go hand in hand with these sort of products. You pretty much have 2 options (at least as far as I can tell).... net or fence. I think both probably function roughly the same, one looks better, and the other is easier to use. I really just want to figure out which one will work best for my situation. I don't mind necessarily doing the net, but I just don't know how that stuff works.