Under Liner Steps - Poured Concrete or Kafko Wedding Cake

[dawgdays]

My existing 16x32 concrete wall pool needs a new liner. What better time to look at retrofitting some permanent steps in the shallow end! The corners have a 10” diagonal thus we cannot get fabricated corner steps – they only come in 2’ or 6” radius or 90 degree. I have not been able to find a under the liner pre-fab step that will accommodate our 10” diagonal corner. Am I missing something?

The only option I have found in a CORNER step design is poured concrete. I have been searching for reviews on this and found this sounding board so I will put out these questions.

Will concrete under liner steps (with 1/8” thick foam over it) wear out the liner prematurely?
What about wrinkles or liner shrinkage concerns in the corner?

The contractor that I would like to work with (very responsive) does not offer this option but he does have a 180 degree wedding cake steps option on the straight end. These protrude 4-1/2 feet into the pool and take up 9 feet of the 16 foot wall. Have any of you done these? Were you happy or unhappy with the end result? It seems like the cake steps would be taking up a good portion of the shallow end of the pool! Also, this option is about $500 less than the poured concrete ones.

Any replies would be greatly appreciated!

 

[duraleigh]

Re: Under Liner Steps - Poured Concrete or Kafko Wedding Cak

I did the under liner steps in my pool and, while I am glad I did, it was a MAJOR headache[attachment=0:2pl8qsap]023steps_formed.jpg[/attachment:2pl8qsap] The steps have to be measured VERY carefully or you will get a bad fit. My fit is excellent to the casual observer but only OK to me since I did the work.

$500 upcharge is cheap. Mine cost way more than that in time, trouble, effort and increased liner costs.

If you do them, there is no extra wear on the liner. I did use foam on the treads and risers.

If you need them to be perfect, I wouldn't do it. If your PB is comfortable with the work, I'd say go for it. Mine are a very nice feature in my plain pool.

 

[dawgdays]

Re: Under Liner Steps - Poured Concrete or Kafko Wedding Cak

Those steps are HUGE! How big is your pool?

 

[dawgdays]

Re: Under Liner Steps - Poured Concrete or Kafko Wedding Cak

My preferred PB called and he was told by the step supplier that he should be able to just notch out small areas in the diagonal piece of concrete. He was thinking that he would have to cut off some of the stair support structure (thus compromising the integrity of the supports) but now that is not the case. So I am getting the best of both worlds! Lower priced pre-fab steps AND in the corner, woohoo!

Now it is saving me $700 over the poured concrete steps.

 

[dawgdays]

Re: Under Liner Steps - Poured Concrete or Kafko Wedding Cak

Just had the liner installed last week and am very happy with the new steps! Will post pictures once I get them downloaded.

 

[Casey]

Re: Under Liner Steps - Poured Concrete or Kafko Wedding Cak

Dave's pool is GINORMOUS! He could fit like 50 kids in there and you could still swim laps or something like that! lol I'm not sure on his dimensions but it's big. :lol:

Can't wait to see your pool! Don't forget to share pics!