When we bought our new house a few months ago, we inherited an in-ground pool with no fence around it. 
Our backyard is fenced in but the pool itself was not.
I think when the previous homeowners built the house their kids were about 10-11 so they weren't worried about small children drowning in it. Personally I would have had a fence anyway since our neighborhood has a number of small kids, and small kids are known for doing silly things like trespassing just to get into a pool, and I'd hate to have a neighbor's child drown in my pool. There aren't any laws (that I can find, at least) in NC regarding fencing around private pools. I was also pretty surprised that our homeowner's insurance didn't have any issues with the lack of a fence, but I wasn't complaining since I didn't want to raise our rates or hold up the purchasing process.
Since my wife and I have several small children under the age of 4, installing a fence ASAP was a big priority. We called around and got a few quotes, and most were in the $5,500-$6,000 range.
Expensive, in my mind, for roughly 170 linear feet of fence. They also wanted to embed the fence posts into concrete about 3ft in the ground, which I really didn't want to do since I don't know exactly where all the plumbing is run for the filtration system.
After doing a ton of research I made a $3,500 purchase of fencing supplies from Lowe's and then another $180 worth of concrete anchors from a local construction place.. Lowe's also had a special running at the time -- 24-months of 0% financing if you used your Lowe's credit card. That made it easy. Other miscellaneous purchases: (3) masonry drill bits, an aluminum-cutting sawblade for my circular saw, some sawblade wax lubricant, a hacksaw, at least 1 tape measure (preferably 2), lots of Gatorade, and plenty of sunscreen.
I bought a whole bunch of these panels, this gate, and these surface mounts. Oh, and a bunch of these angle brackets since some of the angles aren't exactly 90-degrees. I also bought 200 (since they only come in packs of 100...even though I only needed 120...) 1/4" x 2.25" concrete anchors, here.
Construction was slow, especially at first. Total completion time was about 6 weekends. I had a few friends come over 3-4 times over weekends and I finished the last 5-6 panels myself. A few things I had to deal with:
In the end I think I did a pretty good job even if it did take awhile. Now that I've done it once, if I ever had to do it again I think it would go smoother, but I think at least 3-4 people working on it at the same time would be much faster than 1-2 like I was doing. I saved a good chunk of change and it was a good learning experience.
A few photos:
Right before we moved in:
A junky garage filled with even more junk, right after all the material was dropped off. The fencing panels were packed surprisingly well and came to me 95% undamaged -- one panel had two slightly bent portions that I was easily able to fix.
Materials unpacked:
The surface mounts, showing their clever attachment system. The fence post slides onto the mount, which is in 2 pieces that slide against each other, held together with a bolt. As you tighten the nut on the bottom of the bolt the pieces expand inside the post, holding it in place with friction. Once you get it really tight, it is not going to come off unless you loosen the bolt.
I think this is 1-2 weekend's worth of work:
The completed fence -- yes the yard and area right around the pool is junky, I took the photo right after finishing, before cleaning up.
Our backyard is fenced in but the pool itself was not.I think when the previous homeowners built the house their kids were about 10-11 so they weren't worried about small children drowning in it. Personally I would have had a fence anyway since our neighborhood has a number of small kids, and small kids are known for doing silly things like trespassing just to get into a pool, and I'd hate to have a neighbor's child drown in my pool. There aren't any laws (that I can find, at least) in NC regarding fencing around private pools. I was also pretty surprised that our homeowner's insurance didn't have any issues with the lack of a fence, but I wasn't complaining since I didn't want to raise our rates or hold up the purchasing process.
Since my wife and I have several small children under the age of 4, installing a fence ASAP was a big priority. We called around and got a few quotes, and most were in the $5,500-$6,000 range.
Expensive, in my mind, for roughly 170 linear feet of fence. They also wanted to embed the fence posts into concrete about 3ft in the ground, which I really didn't want to do since I don't know exactly where all the plumbing is run for the filtration system.After doing a ton of research I made a $3,500 purchase of fencing supplies from Lowe's and then another $180 worth of concrete anchors from a local construction place.. Lowe's also had a special running at the time -- 24-months of 0% financing if you used your Lowe's credit card. That made it easy.
Other miscellaneous purchases: (3) masonry drill bits, an aluminum-cutting sawblade for my circular saw, some sawblade wax lubricant, a hacksaw, at least 1 tape measure (preferably 2), lots of Gatorade, and plenty of sunscreen.I bought a whole bunch of these panels, this gate, and these surface mounts. Oh, and a bunch of these angle brackets since some of the angles aren't exactly 90-degrees. I also bought 200 (since they only come in packs of 100...even though I only needed 120...) 1/4" x 2.25" concrete anchors, here.
Construction was slow, especially at first. Total completion time was about 6 weekends. I had a few friends come over 3-4 times over weekends and I finished the last 5-6 panels myself. A few things I had to deal with:
- Each surface mount requires (4) concrete anchors, so you have to carefully drill holes using a hammer drill and make sure everything is perfectly aligned so the fence is straight. Each hole needs to have the concrete dust vacuumed out using a shop-vac before you hammer in the anchor.
- If your concrete pool deck isn't perfectly level (like mine) you'll need to shim the surface mounts underneath to level the posts using some washers. Preferably at least 304 stainless so they won't rust. Some only required 1-2 washers, some required 4-5; we used about 75 washers as shims. Having some extra stainless washers hanging around is a good idea.
- The company that made my fencing parts does not make fence posts that are short enough for surface-mounting; they only have the 7-ft versions that are meant to be embedded in the ground. You have to cut each fence post down to size before using. Annoying but part of the job. Using a circular saw for this wasn't fun; I had to rig up a system to help me get perfectly straight cuts. Then there's the aluminum shavings/filings that get everywhere during the cutting process...
- The fence panels only come in 6-ft lengths. If the length of space you need to cover isn't exactly 6-ft you'll need to cut the panels down to size. Very time-consuming since you have to measure, use a circular saw to do the big cuts and then use a hacksaw to make the notches that allow the panels to fit into the posts.
- Since the posts are square, you only have two options for mounting panels: straight, or 90-degree angles. Since the angles of a few parts of my pool deck aren't exactly 90-degrees I had to use angle brackets in a number of locations. Also a time-consuming and annoying process to get them leveled out exactly where they needed to be.
- Installing the gate is a 2-person job. You really do need 4 arms! Don't try to do it by yourself like I did, you'll just get frustrated. The self-closing hinges make it very difficult to drill holes for the hinges while you're trying to hold the gate level with your other hand.
- Definitely order at least 1 extra of each piece you buy, in case of mistakes or damage during shipping. All of this was 'special order' and I didn't want to have to wait 2-3 more weeks to finish the job if something was broken. I ended up using my extra fence panel and 1 of the extra posts I ordered.
- This is a very physical job; I was utterly exhausted at the end of each day.
- There's a surprising amount of tools required; I think it took me 20-30 minutes each day just to haul out all the tools and materials we would need -- hammer drill, circular saw, hammer, shop-vac, electric lines for hammer drill and shop-vac, cordless drill, multiple ratchets and sockets, sawhorses, and a level.
In the end I think I did a pretty good job even if it did take awhile. Now that I've done it once, if I ever had to do it again I think it would go smoother, but I think at least 3-4 people working on it at the same time would be much faster than 1-2 like I was doing. I saved a good chunk of change and it was a good learning experience.
A few photos:
Right before we moved in:
A junky garage filled with even more junk, right after all the material was dropped off. The fencing panels were packed surprisingly well and came to me 95% undamaged -- one panel had two slightly bent portions that I was easily able to fix.
Materials unpacked:
The surface mounts, showing their clever attachment system. The fence post slides onto the mount, which is in 2 pieces that slide against each other, held together with a bolt. As you tighten the nut on the bottom of the bolt the pieces expand inside the post, holding it in place with friction. Once you get it really tight, it is not going to come off unless you loosen the bolt.
I think this is 1-2 weekend's worth of work:
The completed fence -- yes the yard and area right around the pool is junky, I took the photo right after finishing, before cleaning up.
