First pool closing, ladder mounted below deck

[GenericHbomb]

I bought a house over the summer (Upstate, NY) with an inground pool.

I have been reading here for the past few weeks and am getting ready for my first close.
I am closing with a tarp cover/water bags.

I went out to remove the ladders yesterday and realized that the ladders are mounted below the wood deck.It should be noted this is an inground pool and the deck only sits about 4" off the ground so I don't think I could reach under the deck far enough to go in from the side.



I was wondering how you guys would proceed?
Should I pull up a board by each leg and remove the ladder that way? I am a little worried about potentially damaging the pool siding during the process of removing the board.

Just wanted to see what all the experts on here think is best.

 

[samt]

That may be your only alternative is to cut the wood. Those pool ladders usually fit into a boot on each side with each having a set screw that tightens down on the pool ladder. In order to fix it so you can remove it each year, now seems like a good time to do it.

Those boots need to be on top of the deck.

 

[GenericHbomb]

I agree completely.

Do you think I would be better off cutting in front and behind of ladder to remove a section of boards or pulling up the whole board?

I would rather pull up the whole board but if cutting it is less likely to cause issues that is the route I will go instead.

 

[samt]

It's hard to say since you don't know how there really attached under the deck. My thought would be first only pulling one board in the middle and maybe then you could get you hand underneath and undo the bolts or screws on each attachment point. You may need to use a mirror in order to see.

 

[GenericHbomb]

As is the case all too often, the solution was pretty simple but to get there was pretty difficult.
Also, thanks for the help with this!

Went out and got a bigger crow bar. After about 15 minutes of wedging and swearing I got a couple boards up.
Turns out the ladders are not bolted down at all. They are just buried about 6-8 inches into the sand below the deck. It looks like they do go into a hole that is cut in a piece of wood below sand but more investigating would be needed to be sure and to see if that wood is bolted to the joist.

Took me a couple pulls at full force to get them to wedge but once I did they pulled out.
Do you think stick with this next spring or replace the boards and bolt them to boards.
May have to replace the ladders to do this I am thinking because they would sit too high on top of the decking.

Below is a picture.

 

[samt]

I think I would get the boots that the ladder is intended to be used with. I would place them over the existing holes in the deck and since the ladder portion that goes in those boots will be too long, I would use a hack saw and cut off what ever is needed to fit in the boots. Or get rid off the ladder all together if you don't think you will use it. That's what I did. No one was using it anyway.