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Today I received a letter from my insurance company (I won't mention names ... okay it's Traveler's) that they want me to put a fence and locking gate around my AG pool or else they are going to drop me! I called & told them that it doesn't make any sense to put a fence around a pool that already has 52" sidewalls. Besides, I have a ladder with a gated entry and a pool alarm. Has anyone else run into the same situation?
Not from my homeowner's insurance. I did call the codes department of my county, and they said as long as the walls were over 48'' high, (mine are 52'' also) then I would not need a fence around the pool. It sounds like you have plenty of other precuations in place. How did your homeowners insurance company find out you had an AGP in the place, did you declare it ? I would think you could get around that if your local codes are like mine, otherwise I'd tell them they were getting ready to lose a customer, and start shopping around.
Is it BOCA code? Did you get a building permit and was it approved. If the answer is "yes" to either or both, there should be no issue. If you are neither, you'll probably have to comply.Quote:
Originally Posted by kjmelak
Current gate standards call for self-closing and self-latching and a latch that cannot be reached by children (there are a couple of allowable versions of this).
You can put fencing around an AG without too much heavy expense--right on the pool!
I secured all the necessary building permits. My local building department came out and inspected when the pool was installed & they had no problem with it.
I had just recently switched to Traveler's. I declared that I had an AG swimming pool. A few weeks later, they told me that they were going to send an auditor to take a few pictures. I was home when the auditor came & he never mentioned that the pool was a problem. The underwriter saw his pictures and told me that since the pool was viewable from the street, that it could attract children to it, therefore they want a fence around it.
Funny. Passing inspections (and having proof) should be enough.
But make sure you know EXACTLY what they want and need before you invest in it--make sure they agree it's acceptable.
Insurance companies don't make money by paying off, so they look for ANY excuse to drop you. Maybe change agents? We are lucky and have a FANTASTIC State Farm agent. W/O him, S/F is just another big insurance company.
My insurance company (farmers) told me that they only cover pools if the yard is completely fenced... they never threatened to drop me, just specified that anything relating to the pool would be specifically excluded from my coverage if I didn't fence my yard completely.
I have State Farm also, and when we put the pool in (it's an IG), they told us that it had to have a fence around it and a rope that separated the shallow from the deep end. We have both, and there's been no problem.
Janet
I called Travelers back today & asked them if a fence around the rim of the pool would be acceptable. The agent asked the underwriter and he said that was fence was not necessary as long as the sidewalls were at least 48" high and I had a locking gate on the ladder entry. I asked them to put this in writing to me but they said they could not do that! They told me to submit a picture of the ladder and that would be sufficient. Talk about confusing!
I would send them a certified return receipt letter restating the above and that it is your understanding that your specifics (include the details) meet their requirements. Keep a copy of the letter and the receipt. That should cover you in case there is ever a problem.
I have American Family. When we lived at the old house, we had a fence around the yard. For Am Fam, the fence was more for 'tresspassers warning'. If someone jumped the fence and caused damage, we could say the fence told them to stay out. Works for Am Fam. When we moved, we acquired a lot of land and didn't want to put up a fence so I just put a vinyl pool fence up.
For me, it's safety. My wife said I was anal. But there is no way my child is going get in that pool without someone around. There was a family here that had one of those Intek ring pools and one of their kids pulled a battery powered car next to it and climbed in. They didn't find him for several hours. That was around the time we were putting ours up and I swore I would make sure my daughter couldn't do that.
The good news is that my daughter has inherited ADD from me and could care less about the pool unless we focus on it.
Just to update everyone. My insurance company called me a few weeks ago and told me that they are no longer requiring me to put a fence around my pool. They said that the ladder with locking gate is sufficient. Whew!