Need Weight to Hold Down Stairs

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B

BK

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Jul 2, 2008
19
Hello,

Last year I came by a set of plastic "Wedding Cake Stairs" to east entry into the pool.

I am putting them into the pool this year.

I placed old "barbell" weights inside to stabilize it. These are the plastic coated weights, probably cement inside them.

It doesn't seem to be enough weight though as the steps are moving around on their own.

Can I use cinder blocks? I'd wrap them in plastic so they don't harm the new liner. I'm worried that they will leach some chemical out into the pool.

Anyone have experience with this?

Robert in CT
18x33 AG Johnny Weissmuller
 
I wouldn't use cinder blocks. I don't know if you'd have a problem with anything leaching out of them, but dropping one and having it land on a corner won't be good for your liner, plastic wrapped or not.

Anna's got a good method. I don't have wedding cake steps, but I use two 1-or 2- gallon plastic fuel cans filled with gravel and water/bleach to weight my steps down with. You could fill them with concrete as well. Another member uses old bleach bottles filled with concrete and rigged with a reinforced piece of pvc to hang them from.
 
in reading your responses I wonder if I don't have a large air bubble under the top of the stairs ... I'll have to get in to check this out.

I have about 100 pounds of barbells inside the bottom of the steps, mostly in front (because the front kept floating up) but it is still light and even the kids walking into the pool moves the steps.

It doesn't seem that putting sand inside the pipe, or even gas cans will equal the weight I have in there from the barbells.

I'll let you know if I figure that it is an air pocket inside the steps ... I'm not sure if there is any hole in the top or not ... anyway, I was going to drill some small holes to fit cord or wire through to hold the weights in place. I'll find out about the air bubble then.

--Robert
 
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Robert, we're getting ready to put our wedding cake steps in our pool too and just bought about 150# of barbell weights to sit inside. Did you ever determine if your problem was the plastic weights or air under the step? DH doesn't want to do it Anna's way, says that will allow the steps to keep shifting in the water and he wants them to sit stationary (as do I).

Also, a few of our weights have a small crack in the plastic, which we plan to silicone - not sure if that will cause a problem or not. But we're really rearing to get back to the pool, with this Texas heat from hades and have no other way to get back out without the wedding cake steps.
 
New to site..thought I would share what we did. After the bag of sand split open (luckly before we put it in the pool) we filled 2 plastic buckets with cement and put lids on them and sat them under the steps. Works great and you have a handle to help pick them.


Debbie
 
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