Ladder anchors don't have drainage

[anthony21078]

Months ago when new pavers were installed, the masons poured a concrete slab (3' x 2' x 18" deep) and set the brass ladder anchors. I was under the impression that drainage holes were supposed to be drilled through the bottom of the anchors? While closing the pool and pulling the ladder for the first time, there's water in the anchors along with rust and I don't see any drain holes. The anchors are brass, the ladder is polymer (Saftron brand), the bolt is stainless.

Any idea where the rust is coming from? Is it coming from the piece of galvanized metal that connects both anchors? There's one bolt that attaches the support to each anchor.

How can I fix the drainage issue?

 

[nuttyp]

For drainage I drilled through the bottom of the anchor, through the concrete pad and into the sand - very long concrete drill bit. Since I was the one pouring the pad I had also placed a 1/2" PVC tube under the anchor so that cement would not fill the tube. But cement got in there anyway so I just drilled through it all. It's a slow drain but still effective, so it seems. You might consider drilling a larger diameter hole and also sinking a piece of 1/2" PVC down there, sealing the PVC at the bottom of the anchor so that all water goes down into the PVC, past the cement, and then into the sand. That's just in case the water is contacting some reinforcement in the concrete pad and causing the rust. Can't imagine where else the rust is coming from, unless the "polymer" saftron has some metal in a layer of it. If so that would seem evident on the bottom of the saftron ladder. After doing all that you might seal the other holes in the anchor - if there are others. Otherwise it looks like they did a nice job, and looks like they bonded them as well, even though you're using saftron - some day maybe you or a future owner might opt to change to stainless and hopefully they ran those bonding wires to the rest of the bonding grid. PS: When I used I think an 18" drill bit I also had it on an extension with set screws - but I never let the extension set screws go below the bottom of the anchor for fear of the bit coming loose and losing it down there