Similarly, swimming pool covers have several components to consider.  Depending upon what you plan on having your cover for, your choices could be drastically different.  Some are looking at pool covers because they need to have it as a safety measure with young children around.  In some municipalities, pool fences are required or special locks on doors leading to a patio need to be in place.  Other people have heating of their pool as their main reason for looking into a pool cover.

Safety Pool Covers
A safety pool cover will have different characteristics and selling points.  The pool cover that you buy for safety will need to either completely prevent a child or animal from being able to enter the water, or will make it impossible for their bodies to be submerged.  Let’s clarify this point a bit.  Some pool covers are a mesh-like material.  These would allow a child’s foot or arm to reach through and may even cause them to be stuck in the cover.  However, it will not allow their head or body to fit between the mesh pattern.

Other styles have a track and rolling mechanism that make it virtually impossible to even see water through the cover.  These can be motorized or hand crank style of covers.  Some of the more robust pool covers, like Loop-loc,  can support the weight of an entire family – even a baby elephant – without allowing any water to leak out or through.  Secondarily, with this type of cover, you will also benefit from some heating properties.  By the very nature of how the cover fits over the pool, your pool will be warmer.

About Pool Heating Covers
Typically, we are talking about solar pool covers.  These work by way of trapping in the heat and allowing the sun to do all the work.  It takes a lot of energy to heat water.  The warmer you want your pool, the more it costs.  Having the sun heat it for you costs nothing, besides the cost of the cover.  If you get a simple ‘bubble’ type cover, you can spend as little as $50-150 USD.  Will this work as great as a pool-heating unit, of course not.  Will it cost you hundreds of dollars a month to run, absolutely not.  These bubble covers work as a type of insulating layer, keeping evaporation down to a minimum and allowing the water to continue to retain that heat.  Decide what type you are looking for, then go find the best swimming pool covers to meet your needs.

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3. Pool Gates – Safety and Peace of Mind

As just alluded to, a swimming pool cover is really meant to help heat your pool.  There are solar systems and other more energy intensive systems that one can buy that will do the ‘heavy lifting’ so to speak, when it comes to raising the temperature of your pool.  A cover like this is meant to keep a specific aspect from affecting your drop in pool temperature.

A great shot of a swimming pool cover catching a fall leaf.

The main thing that a pool cover is intended to do is help warm your pool.  Plain and simple.  Now, depending upon your type of cover, it may also help with keeping debris out as well from your swimming pool landscaping.  I wouldn’t worry so much about this fact, unless you have a real issue with clogged pool skimmers and equipment.  In this case, a simply plastic cover might be your best bet.

There are also some covers that are designed for safety.  These types of safety pool covers, are made with a different intent.  Some of these styles are a mesh or netting type of thing that stretches over the surface of your pool.  It will not stop leaves or other debris from entering, but it is meant to stop small children and animals from drowning.  Sometimes, a pool fence is left open and that pool float is just too enticing an object to avoid for the little ones.  Tragically, many children drown each year because of accidents that could have been avoided.  Other safety covers are like large tarps that are motorized and drawn across one end of the pool to the other.  Some of these claim to be able to support the weight of a baby elephant.  This one will also help to retain heat in your pool.

When we talk about what it takes to heat a pool, we need to consider sources that would otherwise rob your pool of its heat.  We could call these things heat sinks.  These would include things like the ground and air temperature.  These will actually draw heat out of the water.  Another factors that affects pool temperatures is wind.  As you may notice, all of these factors relate to the greatest threat to pool temperature which is evaporation.  You’ll realize that a pool safety cover made of netting will not help you in this regard.

The simple vinyl covers, with the addition of a bubble layer are quite effective at raising pool temperatures.  Because it takes a lot of energy to heat water, the larger your pool and the greater the chance of evaporation, the more it will cost.  At Patio Covers Place, we believe in a sustainable way to enjoy your patio and backyard outdoor living, so saving energy is  a great idea to us.  We would prefer to see things like the swimming pool solar covers used more often.

If you plan on enjoying your pool for a longer season or simply enjoy a warmer one, investing in some type of pool cover is a great idea.  With the various options for getting your pool covered, there is likely one particular style that you will find beneficial.  Pool covers also reduce the costs required to maintain your pool.  With a cover, you will retain water that may be lost to evaporation, reducing by up to 30-50% the amount of refill water necessary.  In addition to this, you will require less in terms of pool chemicals and cleaning maintenance.

Some covers are manual and others are automatic.  The simple bubble style or even vinyl covers are often rolled up on large drums then manually pulled out over the pool.  The bubble style will typically cost you less but only last a few seasons.  The more durable vinyl and other motorized systems can cost substantially more, but will give you a much longer lifespan.  In terms of cost, you can expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $150-350  USD for one of these recommended simple insulated vinyl type mentioned.  If you are thinking about the more durable and motorized options, think $2,500-4,000 USD for these swimming pool covers.

Photo credit

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1. Swimming Pool Covers – Heating or Safety
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This seems like an elementary point, but you might not know how a plant, shrub or other tree behaves when it is out of season from when you purchase it.  You may fall in love with the colors of the flowers or like the shade that the leaves provide only to be disappointed when you find them plugging up your pool skimmer every other day.

This type of swimming pool landscaping is not available in all climate zones.

The point of having a pool is to be able to enjoy it.  The last thing you want to be hassled with is having to clean all your great landscaping ideas out of your pool time and again.  Sure, you could hire someone to do this or get one of those swimming pool covers, but it will still affect the performance and function of your pool equipment.  Your best bet would be to plan your pool landscaping ideas with respect to your climate and local conditions.

You can see a lovely tropical setting happening in your backyard patio, with your outdoor fireplace, sitting on your chaise lounge listening to some great tunes, melting the night away.  The only problem is, if you live in a desert or more frost-prone climate, your tropical paradise oasis will quickly turn into a deserted island in the Sahara.  If you don’t match your landscaping to your climate, it will never survive and grow to be what you’d like.

With this in mind, keep native species in mind.  Native plants will do much better because, as their name implies, they have adapted over thousands of years to tolerate the weather conditions in your area.  Aside from this, they will likely bloom and go dormant at the times that would best suit your swimming season as well.  A term that is used for this type of use of native plants and thinking of natural water conservation is called xeriscape.  Xeriscaping can allow you to grow many different species of plants with minimal water use.  We are big fans of not only sustainable products and materials here at Patio Covers Place, but sustainable landscaping as well.  This is a wonderful option for swimming pool landscaping.

Let’s take the desert southwest, for example.  There, you can find structures that could shade your backyard, patio and landscape as well.  And, you can also have access to all the water you want – even though using it on landscaping can be considered a slightly irresponsible use of natural resources.  However, you could grow any number of plants and non-native species.  They would require excessive work and also force you to spend more time on them than enjoying your patio or pool.  Desert plants can have a wide variety of color and flowers that can bloom nearly year-round, depending upon species.

There are also ‘hardscape’ features to consider.  In our example here, the plants and trees would be considered the landscaping, while the hardscape could include things like the rock, flagstone or patio pavers you intend to lay, creating some sort of path or walkway.  Your outdoor lighting is also something to consider.  Since we were talking about sustainability earlier, let’s continue that theme with a solar discussion for your lighting.  Things like solar garden lights are a great way to conserve energy and place points of interest in and around your swimming pool landscaping.

How far you want to go with your landscape designs is really up to you.  The ideas and material choices are essentially endless.  You can go for a more rustic look and add a nice looking patio cover to go poolside or go with something much more finished in its appearance.  Your patio furniture and other outdoor accessories are all part of your overall design as well.  Matching your outdoor fabric choices to blend in with your landscaping is a nice touch.

Let’s not forget to mention the pool itself.  In many areas of the country, a pool fence is mandatory now in newer construction.  There are styles that are less obstructive to your visual line of sight, so they make great choices here.  The last thing you want is for your pool fence or other equipment to take away from your swimming pool landscaping design you worked so hard to create.

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Past limitations only made a metal pool fence an available option.  There were also chain link style fences that had a vinyl coating to them.  There was also a time when swimming pool covers were used more for safety than heating.  In fact, there were some that claimed that they could support the weight of an elephant on them.  There is also a pool safety netting that is stretched across the top that will not allow a baby or small animal through.

The standard metal pool fence rails in black.

Now, it is more common to see the vertical rail styles in various powder coated options.  Most residential pool fences must be a minimum of 5’ tall to meet code, 6’ is the standard for commercial use.  With this metal rail style, the spacing can be no more than 4” apart.  This is to prevent childrens’ heads and other animals getting stuck in the fencing, causing potential life-threatening situations.  The lure of those brightly colored pool floats can just be too much to little inquiring and inquisitive minds.

The rails in these styles are usually 5/8” thick and often have 1” tube top and bottom members that frame the rails.  Then, there are the posts at the end of each section of fencing.  These are often 2” square tubing.  For a standard pool installation, black powder coated finish and all right angles is the norm.  For a more custom look, you can opt for decorative top and bottom pieces to be detailed with scroll work or other metal patterns.  Panel work and other curved edges can be used for a custom job as well.  You may also like to choose from a variety of powder coating colors and pool gates.

Some people just don’t like the harsh look that this creates against their swimming pool landscaping and other patio features.  a metal If this is the situation you are in, don’t worry, you can still get a very pleasing to the eye looking safety pool fence that can also be taken down with ease for cleaning or repairs or even for temporary outdoor entertaining where adults are the only guests invited.  This type of removable pool fence is the one that we have chosen as our favorite.  It may also be referred to as a pool barrier fence or something along these lines.

Patio Place Pick – The Removable Pool Fence

This is less visually cluttering and allows for easy removal when not needed.

This type of pool fencing is essentially a vinyl-plastic mesh screen type material that is mounted between sturdy posts that are simply stuck into your pool’s decking surface.  It can be installed at any point, during or after construction.  In fact, with the boring tool assembly, the whole job takes less than half a day to complete in most cases, depending on complexity.  It works in a very simple fashion as well.  All you need to do is squeeze the expanding clip through the eyelet at the place where you would like the door to go and the fence is secure.  Opening for access is just as simple.  And, because it provides full coverage, no arms, legs, animals, toys or other objects can make their way through it.  This is really the future of safety pool fencing in residential applications in our opinion.  You might need to check with your local coding regulations to ensure it is an acceptable system in your area.                       Photo credit

Photo credit

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