Buying a house with a pool?

ameliabedelia-2

Not really pregnancy related, but child related....who here has a pool?  We are looking at houses and one that we both love has a pool.  Does it make you nervous having little ones in the house? What do you do to ensure it's as safe as possible?  Any input/experiences appreciated! 

rainbowdashh

My parents have a pool and I spend like 50% of my time there. It makes me really nervous because my two are 5 and 3 and are strong enough to open their big sliding glass door. Their pool isn't fenced which definitely adds to the anxiety. I personally wouldn't buy a house with a pool because I'm a huge ball of stress and anxiety. A fence would be a must and I hate that my parent's pool doesn't have one. 

rainbowdashh

Oh and swimming lessons as early as possible if I lived in a home with a pool!

ameliabedelia-2

@rainbowdashh, my parents have one also. The good thing is that it has an automatic pool cover that they can close when it's not in use. That has to be installed when the pool is built, however, and this house doesn't have one. It does have a fence that encloses the pool (and separates it from the rest of the yard), but the fence is attached to the house, so you could walk up to it from the basement/deck. I would prefer if the fence was just around the pool with it's own gate rather than access from the house. 

rainbowdashh

@ameliabedelia-2 an automatic pool cover is pretty awesome! A completely separate fence is the most ideal in my opinion too. I grew up having a pool and loved it and now as a parent I'm like NOPE! 

Tennis11785

I wouldn't let a pool prevent me from buying a house I otherwise love.  I grew up with a lot of houses having pools or being on the water.  But I agree with @rainbowdashh - swimming lessons as soon as you can would be a requirement (for me).  I also believe for safety purposes pools are supposed to have their own fence - which I think makes sense.  And then just being really firm with the kids when they are young about pool/water safety and how they aren't allowed to go near the pool without an adult.  

ETA - clarity

cait5413

We have a pool in our neighborhood, but not in our backyard, which I think is the perfect situation. I would plan to add a gate to enclose the fence around the pool completely and do swim lessons ASAP. You also may want to talk to your insurance company to see if there are additional liability issues and if your rates would be any different. Our cousins had a pool in their backyard when we were growing up and so did my grandmother and we used them both a ton. No gate around either one. There are also issues with pool maintenance that can be expensive at times, so you might consider how old the pool is as well. 

balletnerd

I have a pool in my backyard. Here in AZ we have laws about our homes with pools when young children live in the house. It must either have a self closing gate with lock on top that you have to pull to open OR your back door must be self closing with a super high lock handle that you have to turn. I have the second option at my house. We will also be doing swimming lessons as soon as possible. I look forward to future days in the pool with my kiddos!

NME44

I would buy the house and then put a fence up. Bc yes, it absolutely worries me with my little ones, but easy enough to childproof.

wabash15

@ameliabedelia-2 I don't have a pool but It wouldn't stop me from buying the house. I would fence all the way around, pool cover (though they are not fool proof) and these days they have alarms you can install on the fence so you know if a gate is open.  I agree with high latches where the kids can't get to them. growing up one of my freinds had a pool and we lived in it in the summer. I was so jealous of her. 

failuretofly

I dont have a pool but there are lessons you can put infants in where they learn to flip on their back and float until someone comes to rescue them. Like, less than 6 months of age they start I believe. 
https://www.infantswim.com/
the videos are pretty remarkable! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xb12XewP4s

kyrwyn

I really wish we had a pool, especially now that we have a little one on the way.  We had a pool when my brother and I were young and it was amazing.  (We also had a locking security screen on the back door, so my mom would lock it and take the key with her if we were playing unattended in the front rooms.)  Every single day of the Summer* we spent at least an hour in the pool, but more often until our fingers and toes were too wrinkly to hold up against the concrete bottom of the pool.  I cannot remember not knowing how to swim. I know my brother was in the pool learning by a year and a half.  

I have literally no idea how we are going to burn off toddler/kid energy without a pool.  That being said, they're expensive and a pain in the butt to take care of, and a hazard on your liability insurance and a bunch of other less than awesome things.  But I would lobby hard for a house with a pool, if we were in the market for moving.

* Where "Summer" means any day warm enough for us to convince our parents that we wanted to swim. Even if swimming meant shivering in the shallow end chanting "I'm not cold. I'm not cold." -- whilst slowly turning blue.

jekasi

We have a pool and put a fence around it as soon as DS was mobile. It has the latch on top that you have to lift to get in to, and can also be locked with a key once he is tall enough to do that (which is many years from now). We replaced our sliding glass doors that exited to the backyard with french doors that have a 3 way lock (top of the door, middle, and bottom), so we make sure the lock at the top is always engaged as well. All our doors have an alarm sensor that loudly alert me when opened. I feel secure that he cannot get into our pool by himself. There are also alarms that you can buy that you can put onto your pool itself, and it will go off inside the house if anyone/thing enters the pool while the alarm is engaged.

ameliabedelia-2

@jekasi, that's super helpful, thank you. I have seen those pool alarms that go in the water. I want to do some research to find out how effective they are, or chance of false alarms....talk about heart attack if it went off in the middle of the night. 

Amber_Waves

We have a pool. It has its own fence and we'll add a lock to the gate once LO is here. We will also start swimming lessons in infancy and be clear about pool rules. I'm not overly concerned.

Kirss

I personally wouldn't do it because I'm cheap and I think the maintenance would be a lot. Although there are a plethora of ways to keep your kiddos safe, which people have already mentioned. Or if it's an above ground pool you could knock it down. 

skc040512

Personally, I never want a pool in my yard...*TW*...last summer, my husband's 4 year old cousin drowned at her grandparent' s backyard pool so that is mostly why...*TW*...because of that, we got DD1 in swim lessons at 4 months and I highly recommend it. Also, from a financial perspective, your insurance will go up massively in most cases. If you do get one, I highly suggest buying additional insurance in case - God forbid - there was any kind of accident. Then the victims family can get a settlement from the policy instead of suing you.

afternoonduck

We have a pool, with the latch at the top of the gate, but it's a good walk from the house (weird, I know, and I hate walking across the grass with wet feet)! I think @jekasi has the best info.

I am very excited about teaching our baby how to swim as soon as it's warm enough! I was a TA for the baby swim lessons when I was a teenager, and I (personally) can't remember *not* being able to swim. DH also loves swimming, and our donor was a competitive swimmer... so little baby has a chance! 

dkizz82

kvacmak said:

I dont have a pool but there are lessons you can put infants in where they learn to flip on their back and float until someone comes to rescue them. Like, less than 6 months of age they start I believe. 
https://www.infantswim.com/
the videos are pretty remarkable! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xb12XewP4s

This was my suggestion. My cousin's live in Florida and everyone has a pool. They did these classes very young and their baby learned! All of their kids are like little fish now.