Having a private swimming pool is most homeowners’ dream. You can take a plunge whenever you want and maintain the swimming pool to your satisfaction.
Most people don’t enjoy using public swimming pools. They might be comfortable sharing a swimming pool with family members, but not neighbors, who they don’t share any relationship with.
However, if you have a pool, you must have had challenges preventing your neighbors from using it. Some neighbors are just too difficult to say no to, as you must have witnessed.
In this post, you’ll learn tips on how to prevent your neighbors from using your swimming pool. Keep reading to know more!
How To Keep Neighbors From Using the Pool?
Do you have a pool and feel it’s a private pool for just your family? Then you’re right for wanting to prevent your neighbors from using it. It’s your pool and your decision to make.
Besides, you’re protecting your family from any safety or health issue, as most neighbors are naturally dirty and could mess up the pool without minding the consequences.
But then, you’re a nice person and don’t want bad blood between you and your neighbor because of a pool. You don’t want your neighbor to start seeing you as a terrible person. If so, here are innovative ways to ensure your neighbors don’t use your pool.
1. Inform your neighbors politely
You don’t want your neighbors to use your swimming pool, and that’s it. There’s no point beating around the bush.
Unfortunately, telling your neighbors you don’t want them to use your pool directly might go both ways. Some neighbors might get angry, while some would understand and respect your wish.
So, if you want to remain neutral but still stylishly inform your neighbors you don’t want them to use your pool, start doing so while the swimming pool is under construction.
Let your neighbors know when they come around that the reason you’re building a private pool is that you hate sharing pools or using a public pool. When you say such, any sensible neighbor would get the message. Even if your neighbors don’t, you can remind them of what you said while building the pool.
Take their minds back to when you said you detest sharing a swimming pool with people or using a public one whenever they ask to use the pool. Perhaps, they’ll understand and leave your swimming pool alone.
2. Educate your household on the use of the pool
There’s little or nothing you can do to prevent your neighbors from using your swimming pool if you and your family aren’t on the same wavelength. They have to agree and work with you.
Your kids might let your neighbors’ children use the pool in your absence, creating a scenario where your neighbors would start seeing you as the only one against them.
So, educate your entire household. Talk to your family not to allow the neighbors to use the pool in your absence. If the neighbors continue to request, urge your kids to deny such requests politely.
3. Place a signpost in a strategic area
Placing a signpost near the swimming area, with an inscription, “this pool is for private use only,” should be enough to deter nonfamily members, such as neighbors and friends, from using the pool.
It doesn’t matter if your neighbors feel targeted and insulted. The point is you didn’t confront them, and most importantly, you have passed your message across.
You can write anything you want on the signpost. Just ensure you have it strategically placed, so everyone in your neighborhood can see it from any angle.
The reason is to ensure there won’t be any excuses from anyone, as some neighbors may claim they didn’t see the signpost when confronted.
4. Have the entrance to your backyard fenced
Fencing is a smart and effective way to keep your neighbors away from your pool. Since they can’t gain access to your backyard, they can’t come near the swimming pool.
You can decide to use a fence that’s completely covered, so no one can see the pool while standing on the entrance door to your backyard. It’s also essential to use a sturdy fence. And regularly check to ensure the fence is intact.
Your fence height also matters. It should be high enough to prevent anyone from seeing the pool from the outside.
5. Fence the swimming pool
Have you thought about the possibility of your neighbors gaining access to your backyard? It’s possible. You or a family member might forget to lock the door properly, a change that your neighbors might have been expecting.
Any desperate neighbor must have studied the backyard. So, they know if they can gain access to your backyard, gaining access to your pool will be a piece of cake.
So, do everything you can to fence your pool. Ensure the fence is high enough to discourage anyone from attempting to jump over it. Fencing a pool is also a great safety measure to prevent children from taking a plunge unsupervised.
6. Use a suitable pool cover
Pool covers aren’t just one of the intelligent ways of keeping neighbors from using a pool. They also help to prevent family members, most especially kids, from using the pool unsupervised.
Furthermore, pool covers help to keep the pool clean and in a good condition. Covers make pool maintenance a breeze for owners. But your ultimate goal should be to get a good quality swimming pool cover that can withstand the elements for a considerable period.
7. Install a pool alarm
Installing a pool alarm in your swimming pool does two things. It ensures you keep watch over your kids’ use of the swimming pool, ensuring no one gets drawn.
Another thing it does is to help you monitor the use of the swimming pool. So, if your neighbors decide to dive into your swimming pool, you’ll be in the know.
Are You Liable If Someone Drowns in Your Pool?
Yes, that’s the straightforward answer. It’s your pool, so the onus is on you to ensure the safety of anyone that takes a plunge in the pool. You can argue that you have a signpost placed near the pool, warning people against unauthorized use of the pool.
Unfortunately, such a signpost won’t help in most cases. It’s your responsibility to ensure no one experience an accident while using your pool. And that’s more reason to prevent unauthorized use of your swimming pool.
So, keep your pool protected. It would be best if you also warned your youngsters against unsupervised use of the pool. Proper fencing of the pool, with the doors using a self-latching or self-closing mechanism, would help prevent unsupervised use.
Should You Let Neighbors Swim in Your Pool?
Having a pool in the backyard can turn your property into a tourist center for most of your neighbors and friends. Everyone is now aware you have a swimming pool in your backyard. So, it’s going to be challenging saying no to their request to use your pool.
Now the question is, should you let neighbors swim in your pool? Well, it depends on your relationship with your neighbors, including how comfortable you would feel seeing a nonfamily member swim in your swimming pool.
Many pool owners wouldn’t mind giving access to their neighbors. Most especially the ones they have established a strong bond with.
Your neighbors’ kids may also want to come around and use the pool. But the question is would it be right to let kids use your swimming pool without being accompanied by an adult?
This is such a tricky question. Why is it so? If there’s an accident, you’ll be held responsible by the authorities. It doesn’t matter whether the accident victim is a kid or an adult; you’ll take full responsibility for the incident as the pool owner.
So, if you don’t want to get into trouble with the authorities because of an incident on your pool, you’re better off preventing your neighbors from using the pool.
However, if you think you can prevent any incident from happening and would like to have your neighbors in your pool to have fun, go ahead with that. The decision is yours to make.
How To Politely Deny a Neighbor’s Request To Use The Pool?
Whether you deny your neighbor’s request to swim in your pool for personal or safety reasons doesn’t matter. The point is you don’t want nonfamily members in your pool.
However, how you decline your neighbor’s request to use your pool can affect your relationship with them in a way. But the best way to deny neighbors access to your pool and still keep the relationship intact is to deny them access politely.
Here’s how you can do so.
1. Give an intelligent excuse
Your neighbors show up at your house and request to use your pool. Being a close neighbor, you think taking the wrong step to deny them access can strain your relationship with them. Well, yes, it can.
So, you have to be smart about your decision. If your neighbors come around and show interest in using your pool, let them know you’re busy and can’t entertain visitors.
Some neighbors may ask silly questions to gauge how busy you are, but don’t fall for it. Some will insist on staying behind while you work on your task.
In such a scenario, don’t reply to the neighbor. Keep paying attention to what you’re doing. In no time, the individual would lose interest and leave.
You can also give any excuse you feel would make your neighbors go away. Just be ready to show them you’re busy when the need arises. And remember, it’s your pool and you owe no one an explanation.
2. Give a limit
You can discourage your neighbors from requesting to use your pool by putting in place a specific limit. The limit can be that nonfamily members can only use the pool once a month or can’t come to the pool once it’s past a specific time.
It’s your pool, so any nonfamily member that shows interest in coming around must abide by your rules.
3. Keep the pool under lock and key
Ensure your pool is always locked up. These include the door leading to your backyard and the one directly to the pool. Make it a compulsory thing to check the swimming pool before leaving for work every day.
If your neighbors come around and find the pool locked up, their interest in using it may diminish.
Conclusion
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re desperately looking for how to keep neighbors from using your pool. You might have tried a couple of tricks that didn’t work.
Besides the intelligent ways we listed here to help you prevent your neighbors from using your pool, you can learn other things from this post. One of them is the fact that the pool belongs to you. So, if there were an accident, you would be held responsible.
It doesn’t matter if the accident occurred to a neighbor you didn’t authorize to use your pool. It’s your responsibility to ensure safety in and around your swimming pool.