Click to check!
Your Pool and Spa Service Company
Click to check!
Even though the decking around the pool may seem relatively smooth, anyone who has scraped their knee on concrete knows that it can be quite abrasive. There has to be some texture around the pool, to give bathers some traction. These surfaces can be abrasive to the underside of your cover, too. Wind - updrafts and down drafts, cause the cover to rise and fall, or "breathe". Snow and other weight on the cover also cause the springs to stretch and compress, so the deck can be like sandpaper on the bottom of the cover. Eventually, this can weaken the cover by cutting through the stitching, webbing, and fabric. Good quality safety covers have wear strips on the underside, which go from the edge of the cover to the edge of the pool. If the cover isn't properly fitted, these wear strips will not be in the right place, and will not reach to the edge of the pool, where the most wear happens. The result is that , while the top of the cover may look brand new, the safety cover may literally be hanging by threads. At this point, it is no longer a safety cover, it is just a cover. If you have a toddler or pet who strays onto the cover, this condition can be worse than having no cover at all! If it should happen that the cover gives way in an area just big enough for a person to fall through, they are under the cover and panicking, while someone trying to rescue them (usually also in a panic) can't get to them because the rest of the cover is still on. A properly fitted cover also follows the shape of the pool, so you don't walk on the cover, and you basically know where the edge of the pool is. While some people do cover irregularly shaped pools with rectangular covers, these should not be thought of as safety covers. Rectangular pool covers are cheaper than custom fitted covers, and the anchors are farther apart, but safety is more important than money, no doubt!
To say that a properly fitted cover costs less seems contradictory, considering that the purchase price of a custom fitted safety cover (except for stock shapes and sizes) is substantially higher than a rectangle. But the truth is, pool safety cover manufacturers intend for their covers to last 10 to 15 years, and some are even serviceable for as long as 20 years. In the long run, if you can buy a rectangular cover from a major cover manufacturer for $1000, and it lasts 3 or 4 years, or a properly fitted cover for $1500 from the same manufacturer, and it lasts 15 years, you are money way ahead to pay the extra cost of the properly fitted cover. But, again, safety is the most important thing.
I have a customer who lives in a nice neighborhood, and has a really nicely manicured yard, a beautiful Celebrity pool, with beautiful landscaping all around the pool. He has about 3 1/2 feet of stamped concrete around most of the pool, and about 7 feet on the house side, which is right outside his patio doors and family room windows. His yard is just beautiful... for about four months out of the year. Then, in September, he winterizes the pool. A few years back, some pool company made him a "great deal" on a solid cover with drain panels that they had allegedly ordered for someone else who didn't pay for it. This cover extends across the stamped concrete, by about 6 feet on the house side of the pool, and has worn off the finish on the deck. The opposite two corners go beyond the deck, and he uses tent stakes to hold those corners in the middle of the flower beds. The steps and cuddle seat are covered with plywood, and the straps have ropes tied to them to make them reach the concrete. Because there is a raised wall on one side, the cover cannot be pulled tight, and the drain panels are actually under water. The pool is a swamp every spring, and he pays us big bucks to clear it up. For 2/3 of the year, his beautiful back yard looks just awful! It will cost more to fix the decking than it would have cost to have a beautiful, custom fitted cover. While I do understand that people sometimes do what they have to do, the pool company should be ashamed of themselves for selling this cover to this man. Not to dwell on the subject again, but I might also mention that this cover is UNSAFE!
YellowPages.com Yellowbook.com Local.com Superpages.com
Lots more, including Angie's List and Merchant Circle
Under God"
Pictures are on the way!
