• Sacramento County regulates fences, walls and other swimming pool barriers.swimming pool 3 image by superkiss from Fotolia.com
  
  The Sacramento, Calif., County Building Inspector Division is charged with approving residential swimming pool fences and other barriers, as well as indicating probable acceptance of your pool fence construction plans. Barrier requirements apply to pools, hot tubs, spas and similar features containing more than 18 inches of water. Both in-ground and above-ground structures are required to have a suitable fence or other barrier, including wading pools that are fixed in position.
  
  

Dimensions

• The top of your fence or other barrier must be at least 5 feet above grade, as measured on the side of the barrier facing away from the pool. Maximum clearance between the bottom of the fence and grade must be 2 inches as measured on the side facing away from the pool. If you are fencing in an above-ground pool, ensure that the maximum vertical clearance between the top of the pool and the bottom of your fence is 4 inches. Any opening in your fence should be too small to allow a 4-inch sphere to pass through it.
  
  

Chain Link and Lattice Fencing

• Special attention must be taken to ensure that chain link and lattice style fencing still meets pool barrier requirements. Choose a chain link fence with a mesh size no greater than 2 1/4 inches per square, unless your fence has slats at the top or bottom that reduce the openings to no more than 1 3/4 inches. If you build your fence with materials constructed in a diagonal pattern, such as lattice-style fencing, ensure any openings do not exceed 1 3/4 inches.
  
  

Gates

• Gates must comply with the same structural requirements as your fence and must also be capable of locking. Gates should open outward, away from the pool. They must self-close with a self-latching device. Vehicle gates must also be self-latching. If the gate's self-latching mechanism is fewer than 54 inches from the bottom of the gate, it must be located on the pool side of your gate, at least 3 inches from the gate's top. In addition, there cannot be any openings greater than 1/2 inch within 18 inches of the gate's release mechanism. (See reference 1)
  
  

Structural Spacing

• If your fence consists of horizontal and vertical pieces, the horizontal pieces must be located on the swimming pool side of the fence whenever the distance between the tops of the horizontal pieces is less than 45 inches. Spacing should not be more than 1 3/4 inches between the vertical pieces of the fence. If there are decorative cutouts or ornamentation, the spacing with these cutouts should not be more than 1 3/4 inches in width. If you have both horizontal and vertical components to your fence, but the distance between the tops of the horizontal pieces is greater than 45 inches, you need to space the vertical components so that there is no more than 4 inches between them.