Fiberglass Step Modification

[rscam]

Love TFP. Have question about our steps. Our Vinyl IG pool has Acrylic/Fiberglass Stairs manufactured by Fort Wayne Pools, Inc. I attached a pic for reference. We are getting new pavers and our contractor (who also does pool builds) swears that he can install cantilever coping over these stairs by "cutting off the top". Says he has done this many times with no issue. We have a long relationship with him and have always loved his work and found him to be very knowledgeable. I was wondering if anyone here has heard of this being done successfully, or unsuccessfully

Thanks for the help

 

[ajw22]

@jimmythegreek thoughts on this?

 

[jimmythegreek]

yes it can be done but it depends on the style of stairs on how hard it is. if you could see through the stairs its just fiberglass rolled over and down the back an inch, nothing else. you gotta take your time and figure out where the bottom of pavers end up and be within an 1/8" and then mark level lines and cut the stairs with an angle grinder and steel wheel or diamond blade. then do a concrete footing behind them to keep them locked in tight and install coping. then caulk the front carefully with a double tape off top and bottom. if hes good and has attention to detail he can pull it off

 

[rscam]

@jimmythegreek thoughts on this?

AJW
Thank you so much for your help.

 

[rscam]

yes it can be done but it depends on the style of stairs on how hard it is. if you could see through the stairs its just fiberglass rolled over and down the back an inch, nothing else. you gotta take your time and figure out where the bottom of pavers end up and be within an 1/8" and then mark level lines and cut the stairs with an angle grinder and steel wheel or diamond blade. then do a concrete footing behind them to keep them locked in tight and install coping. then caulk the front carefully with a double tape off top and bottom. if hes good and has attention to detail he can pull it off

Jimmythegreek
Thank you so much for your help. I feel much more comfortable now. They've dug out the old paver etc so you can see a bit more of the "innards" and it looks exactly like you decribed. I posted a couple new pics, if you have the time to take a look, please let me know if anything jumps out as problematic.

Thank you again.
Ron

 

[jimmythegreek]

Those are straightforward. Only issue I see is I can't tell if your rails are bonded. I wouldnt legally be able to alter them without agreeing to properly bond rail cups in a concrete footing. Otherwise the stair aspect shouldnt be an issue

 

[rscam]

Thanks again Jimmy. You are right, the original build did not bond the rails on the steps, not sure how that passed inspection at the time. Since he's taking out the existing pavers and concrete base and replacing, he's able to add the new railing cups to the bonding loop. He cut the steps and poured the concrete today. A couple pics of it cut, I think it came out pretty good. Thanks for giving me the confidence move forward with it. We will be so much happier with the new look of the steps. I'll post pics of the finished product once the pavers go in.