Safety, asthetics, convenience. Three words that come to mind when thinking about pool covers. I know personally, my pool constantly gets leaves and debris deposited in the water - working both my skimmer and myself overtime to keep it clean during the summer. Such a pain.

In the winter, however, it's even more troublesome. The leaves begin falling off trees, storms and wind blow dirt in the water and I'm stuck keeping it clean even though I'm not using it. It gets too cold to even consider a pool heater. But alas, it hit me... cover it stupid! Ok, I don't like calling myself stupid but I should have bought a swimming pool cover years ago.

Not only do swimming pool covers make it easy to have a nice, pretty backyard and lower pool maintenance - they're also a safety measure. Even if you keep your pool area fenced in, you never know when your three year old will lift up the latch or your small puppy will jump in unexpectedly. Did you know the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) released a study a few years back that drowing was the 2nd leading cause of death amongst small children? Have two little boys, and a little girl on the way, that scares me.

There are essentially two types of swimming pool covers - mesh and solid. Mesh is the most popular, as they're lightweight and the material will soak in rainwater so they're no need for a pool cover pump. These are very durable, I saw a photo somewhere of an elephant standing on a mesh cover and it holding up. Probably not recommended though.

Solid covers look much like mesh, but rather than breathable material it's a more rigid plastic or vinyl material, These do not allow water to penetrate so they either give up strength by required drainage holes or they require a pool cover pump to remove standing water. Once water puddles on a swimming pool cover, you might as well not be using a cover because it's just as dangerous for small children.