Have you just had a swimming pool installed? Congratulations! In the summer months, you’ll be enjoying relaxing sunny days splashing about in your little oasis at home. But, first, you need to ensure your pool is safe. What sort of fence will you install? Glass fences look chic, minimalist and sophisticated, but are they safe?
Swimming pools can be a lot of fun, but it’s crucial to ensure that the pool area is safe. A pool fence is a legal requirement because it prevents young children from having unsupervised access to a body of water. Drowning is a horrible but genuine risk, particularly if you have a backyard swimming pool, so it’s essential that young children are only able to enter the swimming pool area with adult supervision. Your pool should be fenced as soon as it has been installed. The fencing doesn’t need to be an eyesore, in fact this is a chance for you to upgrade the aesthetic appeal of your backyard by getting a stylish and sophisticated glass pool fence installed!
What type of pool fencing do you need?
There are set pool fencing regulations that must be adhered to across Australia – if your fence doesn’t comply, your pool is unlawful. There are slight variations between states, but the general guidelines are the same. The minimum height of a pool fence is 1.2 metres, and the latch must be at least 1.5 metres from the ground level and 1.4 metres above the lowest horizontal slat for the gate portion. These height mandates are to prevent children from easily climbing the fence or reaching the lock.
All latches must be self-closing and locking. If your fence is 1.8 metres or shorter, you cannot have any nearby objects that could be classed as ‘climbable’. There are further mandates around the structure and design of the fence, the gate and lock, and signage. You must have a fence or both above and below ground pools. An inflatable pool may even potentially require a pool fence if it has a water depth of 30cm or more.
What are the most common types of pool fences?
You need a pool fence you can see through to the other side of, to be able to supervise swimming children efficiently. This makes tubular and glass fences the most common and popular types of pool fences. Both types of fences have their own unique benefits: tubular is a more affordable option, whereas the aesthetic appearance of glass fencing is unmatched. Not only does it give you a complete view of your children in the pool, but it also helps to make your backyard look more spacious and gives it a contemporary, classy appearance.
Is glass pool fencing safe?
When we think of glass used as fencing, we may be thinking of how easily a drinking glass shatters when it hits the floor. Or we might remember a scene in a movie when someone easily punched through a window. Despite favouring the glass pool fence appearance, you might be concerned about the durability of glass – especially having it near a pool. After all, a common poolside rule is no drinking glasses near a pool, lest they shatter and cut someone.
Thankfully, this isn’t something you need to worry about with a glass fence. Any glass pool fence is manufactured with toughened safety glass and is commonly between 10-12 mm thick. They are incredibly tough and durable and would need a considerable amount of force to shatter – much more force than the average child or adult could enforce on it. Even better, if a freak accident occurs and the fence does shatter, safety glass is designed to break into cubes instead of shards. This means there will be no risk of anyone cutting themselves while cleaning up the mess.
Other benefits of glass pool fencing
- Unlike with aluminium tubular fencing, the glass elements of a fence have a 0% chance of rusting. Rusted metal can be sharp and dangerous to touch and can compromise the overall structure of your wall. With a glass balustrade, this isn’t a concern for your family. This rust resistance also makes them a superior choice for coastal or tropical areas, where the moisture levels in the air are much higher.
- Glass fences are much more challenging to climb than traditional tubular fences. With the vertical panel design, it’s possible that children can shimmy themselves up the posts to cross over the wall. A glass fence has a shiny, slippery surface with no potential footholds – it would be much more difficult for anyone to climb up that!
- Glass fences could be considered more hygienic. Their aforementioned slippery surface makes it difficult for dirt and debris to cling to it. One slight negative to glass fences is that they’ll need more regular cleaning than a tubular fence. As anyone with glass furniture knows, fingerprints can easily mark a surface. On saying that, however, they’re incredibly easy to clean, and you’ll be left with a more kid and germ-friendly fence surface.
- Glass pool fences don’t have as many gaps as tubular fences may have. If you choose a frameless glass pool fence design, the panels will be closely set and built directly into the ground – the gap between the surface and fence will only be a few centimetres wide! While tubular fencings gaps are small, it does allow for some things to blow through. Small items like leaves or twigs, which can make cleaning your pool a much lengthier job!
- Glass is entirely see-through, making monitoring your children more effortless than ever. While the tubular fencing slats are slim and allow you to see on the other side, there is still some unavoidable level of vision obstruction. Glass, being absolutely transparent, does not have this problem at all. While it might seem like a slight benefit, you never know just how important that extra bit of vision might be if a scary situation occurs.
Trusting your fence and installer
Your glass pool fence will need to meet all regulations as set by the Australian Standards – this requires your glass to last for at least 10,000 cycles or ten years of regular use. Of course, unless you’re a fencing expert yourself, you’ll need to rely on your fence installer to supply you with quality materials and install it correctly to ensure that it meets all lawful requirements. Jim’s Fencing Melbourne professionals have been installing fences across Australia for over 20 years and are experts at their trade. They offer glass pool fencing in both a framed and unframed style and in a variety of heights, thicknesses and glass types. They’ll be able to have an in-depth consultation with you prior to any installation, where they can give expert recommendations on what type of fence will be best suited to your home. Better yet, they offer obligation-free quotes, so you can have all the information needed to make an informed post.
Once your fence is up and running, you need to organise annual inspections to ensure it is in good working condition and continues to meet the requirements as set out by the Australian Standards. This service can also be carried out by the team at Jim’s Fencing. They’ll be able to tell you of any minor faults that need replacing and any danger points to look out for in the future. If your fence passes the inspection, present you with a pool safety certificate. The wellbeing of your family is at the forefront of their mind, so you know you’ll be receiving a thorough service.