Pool covers

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Radio interview source: Trey Collier, president, Backyard City Pools

It can be depressing to put a winter cover on your pool because you're acknowledging that colder weather is coming. But, with a cover, your pool will be free of leaves and debris when you re-open it next season. It'll also prevent squirrels and other wildlife from falling in when they try to take a swig of water.

There are skads of pool covers out there. Trey Collier is the president of a swimming pool company and says for the best protection, you want solid anchors on the deck to hold cover straps and springs securely in place.

"Make sure that they use stainless steel springs, they're heavy duty, make sure that there are straps, that's the little webbing that goes across the cover, on the top as well as the bottom, making sure it's a good quality cover made by a decent company," Collier says. "You can get them either in mesh or in solid."

Mesh covers allow the water to drain through, instead of it pooling on the top. A solid cover usually has either a drain in the middle that's mesh, or it's totally solid and you use a cover pump to get the water off. If springs and straps aren't your style, heavy-duty water tubes placed on the edges of the cover will hold it tight.