Inground Pool Safety Fence Installation

When my kids were young-er, I installed removable pool fencing, to keep the backyard safe for them, and give my wife and I some peace of mind.

I installed it myself, with help from my neighbor. Once our tools and equipment were assembled, the job only took about 3 hours.

Here’s the information you need to know to plan and install your own removable pool safety fence, DIY Style!

Benefits of Removable Pool Fence

I’ll admit, it’s not the most attractive pool fencing option, but it has certain advantages over other pool fence types:

  1. Removable – Quickly removable pool fence for parties, or when safety cover is installed.
  2. Affordable – self installed, a mesh pool fence costs as little as $8.50 per foot.
  3. Flexible – Can be stored when children have reached older ages; or until grand kids!
  4. Resellable – Mesh pool fencing can be removed and sold to a neighbor for re-installation, if unneeded.
  5. Safer – Unlike other types, mesh pool fences are completely non-climbable, and even keeps out small pets and animals, and allow full see-thru view.

Planning your Pool Fence

The safest pool fence is a complete surround, and what most people do is follow the shape of the deck surrounding the inground pool.

However, depending on how your patio and pool are laid out, you may not need to completely surround the pool. For narrow backyards, you can “split the yard”, and run a secondary fence across the yard, from side fence to side fence. Here’s an example.swimming pool safety fences
In other cases, you can use two sides of the property fence, to connect to two new sides created with our removable pool safety fence.removable pool safety fencesStraight or Curved? A straight pool fence is easier and cheaper to install than one that curves in and out, or follows the shape of the pool. Corners are usually a 45 degree wedge, 90 degree corners or less are discouraged.

nice pool fence installation

To reduce fence cost, you may want to sacrifice some internal deck space, but be sure to have enough space to be able to walk around the entire pool, and a place for seating or lounging.

Be careful that your fence line is not near raised walls, planter beds, trees, stumps or that old jalopy parked out back ~ anything that could be used by a child to climb over the fence.

When you have a plan, lay rope or use chalk to mark the outline of the safety fence. If you buy the optional swinging gate, decide where this will be located. Draw a Layout on paper – it’s a good idea for visualization and also for review, on installation day.

Measure! Once you have your fence plan formalized, it’s time to carefully measure the total length of your pool safety fence. Our pool fence sections are each 10 feet long. Determine how many sections you will need with careful measurements.

safety-fence-gate

10 ft long pool fence sections can be trimmed to fit any partial measurement. When installed, there will be a gap between lengths of approximately 1 inch. The optional pool fence Swing Gate shown left, is 36″ wide.

Pool Fence Installation Materials

SDS drill-bit

  • Rotary hammer drill, with 5/8″ x 18″ SDS masonry bit
  • Drill Guide to hold the drill at a precise drilling angle
  • Extension cord to reach around the pool
  • Garden hose to wash away drilling dust
  • Medium sized hammer
  • Measuring tape
  • Chalk Line

DIY Pool Safety Fence Installation

  1. Snap a chalk line along a carefully measured fence line. After the deck is marked, measure to be sure you have enough pool fence.
  2. Determine your starting point, then lay down the included template to mark the first 4 holes to be drilled.
  3. Drill the holes at the proper angle (see below), and clean out the concrete dust with water, a leaf blower, or a wet/dry vacuum.
  4. Pound the post sleeves into the holes that were drilled.
  5. Install fence section posts into sleeves, and continue to the next fence section.

Drilling Guide

drilling-guide for rent

A drilling guide is used to hold the rotary hammer drill at precisely the right angle when the hole is drilled in the deck.

This is important for proper tension on the panels around the pool, but also so that your fence line looks true – and not wavy, as you gaze down it.

pool-fence-curves

For Straight Runs of fence, the holes are drilled at right angles (90°) to the pool deck, straight up and down.

For Outside Curves, the hole should be drilled with a 2-3° outward lean, away from the pool.

For Inside Curves, the hole should be drilled with a 2-3° inward lean, toward the pool.

The Drilling Guide helps you maintain these drilling angles – and it won’t cost you a cent – we let you borrow one of ours! Just pay $299 refundable deposit. We refund the entire $299 when you return the Drilling Guide.

black mesh fence around vinyl pool

Visit our DIY Inground Pool Fence section for prices and more information on our removable pool safety fencing. It’s probably cheaper than you think!

One thought on “Inground Pool Safety Fence Installation

  1. […] your dog belongs to one of the breeds that find swimming difficult, if not impossible without help, install a pool fence. Both temporary and permanent pool fencing options are available, for inground and above ground […]

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