Features to Consider When Choosing a Fence for Your Residential Pool
When choosing a fence for a residential pool, you need to first find out the legal and local requirements for height, design, and the like. After you've checked those requirements, note a few other factors to consider so you can ensure you choose the right fencing material and design for placement around your pool.
Deck material
For an above-ground pool or one with a deck built around it, consider the material of that decking. If it's a typical pine or cedar, you probably don't want a different variety of wood for your pool fence. The different tones and grains of two different species of wood may easily clash. A wood fence near a wood deck can also be just too many wood surfaces in the yard. Instead, opt for glass or metal to break up that look and help coordinate those items around the deck.
View
If you want a nice view from the pool to nearby landscaping or to see into the pool from the house or yard, glass is obviously the best choice. However, many homeowners want just the opposite and prefer some privacy around the pool. Wood fences are good, but if this would close off the area too much, choose a metal mesh fence. The tighter the mesh, the less a person can see through it, so you're afforded privacy without feeling as if the space is closed-in.
Lighting
Will you have lighting around the edge of the pool? If so, note how it would be reflected in the material of the pool fence. Wood will absorb the light, whereas glass will reflect it. You might want a nice glow from a glass fence at night, but consider if this will be so much light that you feel like you're swimming under a spotlight! Ask a pool fence installer how the fence will react with your choice of lighting and its placement around the pool before making your decision.
Other fencing materials
As with surrounding decking, you'll want to coordinate your pool fence with other fencing materials around the property, if there are any. A rustic wood pool fence may clash with a modern metal chain link yard fence, so glass may be a better option. A modern metal pool fence may look out of place by a traditional white picket fence, so wood or glass may be the better choices as well. Your pool fencing contractor can usually help you determine the best choices for your property and pool so the materials coordinate without actually clashing.
