Small win, finally got my youngest to stop climbing out the ladder wet

Started by Sam Whitaker · · 4 replies
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#1
Random one but felt like a win. Been fighting all summer with my youngest tracking half the pool through the yard and into the house because she climbs out the ladder side instead of using the steps by the deck. Tried yelling, tried bribery, nothing worked. Threw an old beach towel over the ladder rails last week just to dry it off and turns out that was the fix, she treats it like a little station now, dries off right there before she goes tearing across the yard. Grass is recovering, kitchen floor is drier, wife is happier. Sometimes the fix for these things is dumber than you think. Anyway figured id share since most of what i post here is stuff going wrong, nice to have one that just worked, buddy.

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#2
Ha the towel on the ladder trick is genius, stealing that immediately. My three cannonball off the deep end all day then track water straight through the kitchen because the steps are apparently too far to walk to when youre seven and starving.

We have the same problem just havent solved it yet, closest thing is a stack of towels by the back door that half the time nobody uses anyway. Might actually go throw one over our ladder rail tonight and see if it works the same magic, cheap fix beats another summer of mopping.
#3
Sam, quick question before I say anything else, is that ladder rail stainless or the coated kind. Reason I ask, I had a towel sit damp on a coated rail for a stretch a few summers back and it left a mark where the coating wore thin, took me a season to notice it was even happening. Stainless you have nothing to worry about, wipes clean and dries fine, but if it is coated I would just make sure someone is grabbing that towel and wringing it out at the end of the day instead of leaving it draped there overnight.

Otherwise it is a good fix and cheaper than anything I have tried. Grandkids track water through my sliding door every visit and I have never solved it, might steal this one myself.
#4
Good call on Tom checking the coating, ours is stainless so I never even thought about that being a thing. Now Im curious if the ladder in our shallow end is coated though since it's older than the deep end one, might go check tonight since I have no idea honestly.
#5
This made me smile because we went through the exact same thing with our grandkids years back, towels dropped right in the grass by the ladder and Gene grumbling about mowing over soggy terrycloth all summer. We finally just clipped an old towel bar sort of thing to the fence near the ladder, nothing fancy, and told them the towel lives there, not on the ground and not draped on the rail. Fixed the yard problem but Tom's point about the coating is a good one to tuck away, ours is the older coated style too and I do remember a dull spot showing up years ago right where a wet towel sat for a couple days while we were away.

So now it is just a house rule that nothing stays hung on the rail overnight, Gene wipes it down if he notices it damp before bed. Small thing but after twenty some years on the same pool you learn the coating does not forgive being ignored the way stainless does.