Preventing Poolside Peeping: Choosing View-Blocking Privacy Fencing For Your Pool
Choosing the right fencing for your pool can be a challenge, especially with a range of legal requirements dictating how high, strong and secure your fence must be. In the scramble to meet all of these requirements, concerns such as the amount of privacy your fencing affords can be overlooked. Fear not; pool fencing contractors offer a wide variety of fencing types that provide the security and durability you need, as well as forming an impenetrable privacy screen to keep your swimming sessions well away from prying eyes.
Timber fencing
This classic fencing material can make for extremely effective private pool fencing with solid wooden panels providing large visual screens. Timber is also an excellent choice in aesthetic terms, with various types of wood, grain and stains providing a near-limitless array of design choices. With occasional treatments with preservative oils or water-based polymers, a timber fence can last for decades.
Mould can be a serious issue for timber pool fencing, however, as the constantly warm and moist environment provides a haven for fungal spores to reproduce in. Make sure that you clean your timber pool fencing regularly to remove nascent fungal deposits, and consider anti-fungal treatments to prevent spores from taking root in your fence. You will also have to watch out for the attentions of termites, woodworm and other wood-boring insects.
Tinted glass fencing
Glass pool fencing is considered by many to be the gold standard for cool, contemporary looks, but transparent sheets of glass are hardly the best option for the privacy-conscious. As an alternative, consider choosing tinted glass panels for your fence. These panels retain the sleek, modern look of ordinary glass fencing, but are tinted with dark pigments or films that effectively block sight lines. These fences are generally very easy to maintain, as they are easy to clean and will not fall victim to fungus, mould or other environmental factors.
However, while tinted glass fence panels are made from robust, toughened glass, they cannot provide the same security as a solid wooden or aluminium fence, and you should not rely on them as a primary security measure. You should also pay attention to how the glass is tinted; panels tinted with film tend to have a limited shelf life before the film starts to perish and must be replaced, while pigment-tinted panels have more longevity but tend to cost considerably more.
PVC fencing
This robust type of fencing is made from durable plastics and is available in a huge variety of designs and layouts designed to maximise your poolside privacy. As a non-organic material, PVC is not vulnerable to mould, rot or insect attacks, and its smooth surface makes for easy cleaning. PVC fences are also quite aesthetically versatile with a wide variety of colourings (including wood and stone-effect coatings) available.
Unfortunately, while PVC fencing is very good at weathering physical damage and inclement weather, it does not react so well to prolonged, intense sunlight. Most modern PVC fences contain special compounds to reduce this vulnerability to sunlight, but even so a PVC fence will eventually start to perish and lose strength as it is damaged by ultraviolet light. You should also be aware that PVC fences tend to be quite bulky to provide adequate strength and may not be suitable for compact poolside environments.
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