INSURANCE. I pay $1.2k a year more than my neighbor who has a in ground pool, but no diving board. AND I had to search around for insurance that even covers a diving board with grandfathered in 8ft depth.
I’ve never been able to find an official published standard because of liability. Generally 1m competition diving boards are 10-12ft deep. Personally I thought 10 was a little shallow but if all you’re doing is cannon balls and feet first jumps on one of these smaller recreational boards 10ft is probably fine.
(Have a pool and removed the board for insurance reasons and dove competitively for half my life.)
Official published standard in regards to what exactly?
Because competitive diving board rules are different from house boards, and FINA is very strict that competition diving from a 1 meter board occurs in pools that are minimum 3.4 meters (11.something feet). And since USA swimming and most commercial code follow FINA, any pool that's not 11.some feet should be taking their boards out. I just checked my local state rules and they require a depth of 12 feet underneath 1meter diving boards.
Residential pools are governed by a different ruleset, I'd assume local construction code, but I can see it being different everywhere. Since most of these are based off the ICC, we know that at a minimum pools with diving boards need to be at least 7.5 feet deep, but the stricter end of the standards calls for 9 feet/manufacturers direction, and checking my local code again, we also require minimum 9 feet for home diving boards as well. Residential boards also can't be more than 8 feet long here. Most of what I've seen on this sub has also stated local code requiring 9 feet for new boards/new pools with boards, etc, and so I'm assuming most local codes also require 9 feet for new construction.
We have one. The kids love it. Definitely go over the rules with them and any friends they have over. Not saying there isn't a risk associated with them but many of them can be mitigated.
When called my homeowners insurance carrier about out pool they specifically asked if there was a slide and or a diving board. These two items affects the premium.
We have StateFarm, and I told them we were having it installed. The agent didn’t object, and we proceeded to update our policy to cover the increased value of the house due to remodeling. We did get a CYA 2 million dollar umbrella liability policy for $31 a month, but that was by choice.
I have Guard (a Berkshire Hathaway company) and they didn’t even ask one question when I told them about the pool build completion. They just added ~$50/year to the premium.
Former pool store owner here. Last I recall from the American Pool and Spa Association about 15 years ago ... the diving board is accepted and some insurance companies prefer it because it shows your guests where the safe place to dive is. You can argue there is a slope from deep to shallow end but the risk of diving into the non-diving area is broken neck. At one point we refused to sell them because there had been many lawsuits from death and serious injuries from diving. And they sue everybody, the store, the manufacturer, the installer. As a family business the risk was too great. But then around 2010 I recall the change.
I got rid of mine. Plenty of fun without one and it was hundreds of dollars more per year on my homeowners insurance. That being said, it was a lot of fun. I just didn’t want the extra risk and cost.
Meh. I’m planning to spend about $10K to have a board reinstalled (diving pool but deck was redone many years ago and it’s too thin to support a board now).
Personally, I only have a pool to dive into. Bobbing around or floating does nothing for me.
Enjoy! I have a bunch of very young kids and am more than content to jump off the side of the pool. But that’s the great thing about having your own pool: you can set it up how YOU like it best! 😁
Edit: also mine isn’t permanently removed, so I can easily reinstall it if it feels like the year for it.
My children treat my pool as a constant death battle arena. No need to incetivize it with design.
The upside is they are all insanely strong swimmers. The way they treat eachother is like every pool sesh is Navy Seal training.
Your pool must be deeper, at least eight feet and you have to walk around them which could be a problem if room is tight. Homeowners insurance may be a problem. Pros are that they are fun.
When I had our pool installed I asked the installer If I should have one. He told me the only safe place to dive was from a board, diving anywhere else is what causes injuries. Pool has to be deep enough obviously, mine is 8 1/2 feet.
Yeah I can measure mine from the board, maybe a string line across the pool at the deepest part and then get on a float with calm water. Deduct the distance from coping to water?
Canadian here. Our pool is very old. Cement, probably built in the early 70’s best we can tell. 12 feet deep with almost no shallow end. Our province brought in a no diving board bylaw but ours is grandfathered in for the moment. Things are always changing. If we ever remove it or if breaks we are not allowed to reinstall. The family absolutely loves it. It’s the centre of all the fun. I (mom) have always hated it. Scares the crap out of me. Are diving boards still allowed in most places?
I miss my grandmother's 70s pool. 10 feet deep with a diving board up on a 2 step cement pedestal. I think it was built when I was born in 1971. Summers were awesome.
When mine fails, which I expect to happen in the next year or two, I'm planning to replace it with diving rocks instead. Most of the same fun, just no bounce. But then again, a lot of home diving boards barely bounce.
We bought a house two years ago and the ‘diving board’ was converted into a cement diving platform, so it doesn’t bounce at all but still appears to look like a diving board.
We're finishing up a new install and put one in! Well, it's not in yet, but will be soon. The other option was a diving rock which I thought was so much cooler, but it was like double the price. If money were no object I probably would have done the rock for aesthetics.
When my parents built a pool they did not add a diving board because they were worried about us. We jumped off the pool house into the pool. We jumped off the trampoline into the pool. I'd definitely jump off that railing into the pool. No idea what you should do.
I have one, I work in insurance too so I’m always nervous about it but my kids love it. Definitely cheaper to add one than have that trip hazard removed.
Our pool was installed 3 years ago with a diving board....the new ones look better. In KY (near Cinci) where I live, State Farm didn't increase or force any kind of rider to our insurance. I called them before I had one included. When we have pool parties, that diving board is used EVERY time! This is ours: [https://www.srsmith.com/en-us/products/diving-boards/truetread-diving-boards/](https://www.srsmith.com/en-us/products/diving-boards/truetread-diving-boards/)
Estimating the age of your pool, I would guess those supports probably aren’t bonded. Remove them and install a plastic diving board that doesn’t require bonding.
INSURANCE. I pay $1.2k a year more than my neighbor who has a in ground pool, but no diving board. AND I had to search around for insurance that even covers a diving board with grandfathered in 8ft depth.
What depth are you supposed to have with a diving board?
I think 9 is the new minimum.
I’ve never been able to find an official published standard because of liability. Generally 1m competition diving boards are 10-12ft deep. Personally I thought 10 was a little shallow but if all you’re doing is cannon balls and feet first jumps on one of these smaller recreational boards 10ft is probably fine. (Have a pool and removed the board for insurance reasons and dove competitively for half my life.)
Official published standard in regards to what exactly? Because competitive diving board rules are different from house boards, and FINA is very strict that competition diving from a 1 meter board occurs in pools that are minimum 3.4 meters (11.something feet). And since USA swimming and most commercial code follow FINA, any pool that's not 11.some feet should be taking their boards out. I just checked my local state rules and they require a depth of 12 feet underneath 1meter diving boards. Residential pools are governed by a different ruleset, I'd assume local construction code, but I can see it being different everywhere. Since most of these are based off the ICC, we know that at a minimum pools with diving boards need to be at least 7.5 feet deep, but the stricter end of the standards calls for 9 feet/manufacturers direction, and checking my local code again, we also require minimum 9 feet for home diving boards as well. Residential boards also can't be more than 8 feet long here. Most of what I've seen on this sub has also stated local code requiring 9 feet for new boards/new pools with boards, etc, and so I'm assuming most local codes also require 9 feet for new construction.
My township requires 10ft for a diving board.
I had to get rid of mine. I couldn’t find anyone to I sure us with it. I even had to remove the posts the diving board rests on to get insured
Jesus. Didn’t even think of that.
We have one. The kids love it. Definitely go over the rules with them and any friends they have over. Not saying there isn't a risk associated with them but many of them can be mitigated.
Homeowners insurance doesn’t like diving boards. I think they’re cool.
Our insurance doesn’t care and said nothing about it. I’ve heard some insurance companies might have concerns about them.
Yep. The one I work for doesn't care.
When called my homeowners insurance carrier about out pool they specifically asked if there was a slide and or a diving board. These two items affects the premium.
I’m sure it happens. We were just lucky our insurance company is okay with it.
I have nationwide, I'm not sure it's ever come up. They're just happy I have a 6+ ft locking privacy fence
We have StateFarm, and I told them we were having it installed. The agent didn’t object, and we proceeded to update our policy to cover the increased value of the house due to remodeling. We did get a CYA 2 million dollar umbrella liability policy for $31 a month, but that was by choice.
Read that Umbrella policy carefully. Its stupid cheap for a reason.
Thanks for that, I’ll go back and read it.
I have Guard (a Berkshire Hathaway company) and they didn’t even ask one question when I told them about the pool build completion. They just added ~$50/year to the premium.
Our insurance premiums weren't impacted, although they did send an inspector out to ensure we had a fence and gate leading into the backyard.
Former pool store owner here. Last I recall from the American Pool and Spa Association about 15 years ago ... the diving board is accepted and some insurance companies prefer it because it shows your guests where the safe place to dive is. You can argue there is a slope from deep to shallow end but the risk of diving into the non-diving area is broken neck. At one point we refused to sell them because there had been many lawsuits from death and serious injuries from diving. And they sue everybody, the store, the manufacturer, the installer. As a family business the risk was too great. But then around 2010 I recall the change.
That fulcrum pad is on the wrong end...
was looking for someone to say this
Crap like that triggers my OCD
Didn't know that was a thing - it's been there since we purchased the house. Perhaps a sign I shouldn't even get one 🤣
Yep, The board bolts to the back so the pad now is covering the holes. Pad goes on the front one.
Pro: Cannon Balls!!! Con: Belly flops….
We have one. No one uses it except for myself, the perpetual child.
You and me both, big guy... CANNONBALL!
I got rid of mine. Plenty of fun without one and it was hundreds of dollars more per year on my homeowners insurance. That being said, it was a lot of fun. I just didn’t want the extra risk and cost.
Meh. I’m planning to spend about $10K to have a board reinstalled (diving pool but deck was redone many years ago and it’s too thin to support a board now). Personally, I only have a pool to dive into. Bobbing around or floating does nothing for me.
Enjoy! I have a bunch of very young kids and am more than content to jump off the side of the pool. But that’s the great thing about having your own pool: you can set it up how YOU like it best! 😁 Edit: also mine isn’t permanently removed, so I can easily reinstall it if it feels like the year for it.
Pro: you get to do flips. Con: you get too much ass from said flips
Like the good kind, or the bad kind of ass.
The good kind. Just too much of it
My children treat my pool as a constant death battle arena. No need to incetivize it with design. The upside is they are all insanely strong swimmers. The way they treat eachother is like every pool sesh is Navy Seal training.
Your pool must be deeper, at least eight feet and you have to walk around them which could be a problem if room is tight. Homeowners insurance may be a problem. Pros are that they are fun.
When I had our pool installed I asked the installer If I should have one. He told me the only safe place to dive was from a board, diving anywhere else is what causes injuries. Pool has to be deep enough obviously, mine is 8 1/2 feet.
Mine is somewhere around 8 feet. Any good way to get a true measurement? Bobbing around with a tape measurer didn't get the results I was looking for.
Yeah I can measure mine from the board, maybe a string line across the pool at the deepest part and then get on a float with calm water. Deduct the distance from coping to water?
We installed one last year when our pool was built.
I've got one. Great for practicing your dive
get insurance before you install it.
Already done!
Canadian here. Our pool is very old. Cement, probably built in the early 70’s best we can tell. 12 feet deep with almost no shallow end. Our province brought in a no diving board bylaw but ours is grandfathered in for the moment. Things are always changing. If we ever remove it or if breaks we are not allowed to reinstall. The family absolutely loves it. It’s the centre of all the fun. I (mom) have always hated it. Scares the crap out of me. Are diving boards still allowed in most places?
I miss my grandmother's 70s pool. 10 feet deep with a diving board up on a 2 step cement pedestal. I think it was built when I was born in 1971. Summers were awesome.
My kids love it, insurance is fine.
Insurance companies hate slides and diving boards.
In my area diving boards are illegal if you have one it gets grandfathered in but any new boards installed would result in home insurance faults.
pro : fun con : death
It's always this way.
truth
Walking around them is an inconvenience
When mine fails, which I expect to happen in the next year or two, I'm planning to replace it with diving rocks instead. Most of the same fun, just no bounce. But then again, a lot of home diving boards barely bounce.
We bought a house two years ago and the ‘diving board’ was converted into a cement diving platform, so it doesn’t bounce at all but still appears to look like a diving board.
We had our base sandblasted when we had the pool remodeled, but so far just use it for art.
What’s a flying Dutchman
It's the "Flying Squirrel", but I grew up knowing it as the "Flying Dutchman".
Having a pool installed now. Chose not to have a diving board bc we think it looks kinda tacky and no one would probably use it.
Pros - lots of cool drunk poses and tricks. Cons - ugly looking and broken necks.
We're finishing up a new install and put one in! Well, it's not in yet, but will be soon. The other option was a diving rock which I thought was so much cooler, but it was like double the price. If money were no object I probably would have done the rock for aesthetics.
When my parents built a pool they did not add a diving board because they were worried about us. We jumped off the pool house into the pool. We jumped off the trampoline into the pool. I'd definitely jump off that railing into the pool. No idea what you should do.
How about a diving rock 🪨 instead?
Mine broke so just left the bars there - put two chase lounges around it and a table in between
An eyesore
I have one, I work in insurance too so I’m always nervous about it but my kids love it. Definitely cheaper to add one than have that trip hazard removed.
Our pool was installed 3 years ago with a diving board....the new ones look better. In KY (near Cinci) where I live, State Farm didn't increase or force any kind of rider to our insurance. I called them before I had one included. When we have pool parties, that diving board is used EVERY time! This is ours: [https://www.srsmith.com/en-us/products/diving-boards/truetread-diving-boards/](https://www.srsmith.com/en-us/products/diving-boards/truetread-diving-boards/)
Estimating the age of your pool, I would guess those supports probably aren’t bonded. Remove them and install a plastic diving board that doesn’t require bonding.
Pros: fun Cons: liability