Need help choosing a ladder/stairs... Might be overthinking it

[s0m3oNe]

Hi,

First time pool owner having a 18 x 52 round AGP installed along with a set of stairs and small platform made of composite deck boards for entry/exit.

I've been stressing myself out trying to figure out the best solution for in-pool steps or ladder. I'm in Canada, so one of my main concerns is the winterizing process. I'm not crazy about the idea of having to drill into the composite boards each time I'm re-opening the pool.

I was ready to buy the Confer 6000x ladder, but that would definitely need to be drilled into the deck.
I read some old threads where people have used drop-in stairs without the deck arms, and just weighed them down or used a rope to tie them down. Does that work reasonably well? They do need to be stable enough for my older family members to manage.

What is the common/simple solution here? I feel like I'm missing something simple as I don't see the topic being discussed all that much!

 

[Schnozz]

HOW ABOUT A PICTURE OF YOUR STAIRS AND SMALL PLATFORM??

 

[gtnos]

Ill never have in pool steps again. EVER.

Reasons:

1. Every year you got to take them out to winterize, especially if pool freezes. They are a royal pain to take out because of the weight. It takes two or three people to get them out depending on the size of the ones that you bought....plus they're full of water... sand anchors... etc. Then... unless you just want to stare at them on your pool deck all winter you got to store them somewhere.

2. They float. Even after making numerous sand anchors out of PVC and it was such a chore to get those things in and out... took 3 of us to get the confer stairs in. 2 to stand on them to hold them down and the third person diving under 15 times to put the weights on them.

3. Attaching them to the deck is not easy especially if it's concrete you're going to have to drill some holes in the pool and your concrete and it just doesn't look good no matter how you do it.

4. Algae. You will have constant issues with stagnant water underneath the steps and when the rest of my pool would be crystal clear and perfect, there still would be nasty water underneath the steps. Id put the pool vac hose under them from time to time and try to suck all the nasty water through the filter but it just ended up being more work that made me hate the stairs even more.

5. Trash. That's where it's all going to accumulate.... underneath the stairs ...you're going to constantly be having to vacuum around and under it....if you have a pool robot it's not going to be able to do anything for the stairs. Constantly having dead bugs floating around stairs on the top and dirt at the bottom around stairs thats impossible to clean up just made getting in my beautiful pool water a gross experience and myself along with my children would often times just go up the side of the pool to avoid the steps because of all the garbage that was always floating around them... 90% of which always seemed to be dead bugs. Basically they would get stuck on the stairs and never would make it to the skimmer.

6. I should have put several layers of extra liner patches or something under my stairs because it severely scored my liner up and even if it doesn't do that.. . it's going to indent your liner horribly where the stairs are at. The stretch marks look horrible when steps are taken out.

7. Expensive and just not really worth it unless maybe if you have somebody with disabilities has a hard time getting in and out of the pool on a ladder.

Just get a ladder. I would never.... ever... do stairs on an above ground pool ever again. if I have to absolutely have stairs then I will pony up the money for an inground vinyl liner pool where they're built in.

My .02.... other people's mileage may vary...

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I think you have the wrong concept of attaching something to your deck. You are going to use the same holes all the time not drill new holes. You may be able to leave the deck support attached to the deck on the Confer stairs and take off the hand rail when winterizing, I took the handrails off when I winterized my pool last fall. Composite decking may not hold the stresses of the ladder supporting people (pulling back as they go up) but that can be remedied by putting a wood backing plate under the composite decking where the ladder will go. Something to be aware of is steps take up much more room than a ladder entry. I had a stair system in my old pool and a different one (Confer) in my new pool and they do stick into the water a lot. They are also heavy to remove, for the new stairs I only had to worry about the weight of the 1/2 that was inside the pool unlike my last stair system that I couldn't take apart. Something else to consider is how easy is it for your family to climb ladders vs stairs, stairs are much easier.

I never had a problem with algae even though the water that does come out of the ladder tends to be yucky but at that point I am putting high doses of chlorine before closing the pool and I believe that kills the yuck! I never had the issues that are being presented with my last steps, yes crud gets behind them but crud also gets into the center of the pool and you may need to use a leaf rake to pick it up if you have trees around. My steps never floated out of position once fully filled with water, I was going to rig up something for our new steps but didn't need to. Whatever you get put a pad under it in the pool, we used a bathmat for our first steps and the pool store gave us a pool mat in the package we bought. Just my opinion but the only 2 cons for the stairs are the weight with water in it to get it out of the pool and the amount of space it takes up in the pool.

 

[s0m3oNe]

I think you have the wrong concept of attaching something to your deck. You are going to use the same holes all the time not drill new holes. You may be able to leave the deck support attached to the deck on the Confer stairs and take off the hand rail when winterizing, I took the handrails off when I winterized my pool last fall. Composite decking may not hold the stresses of the ladder supporting people (pulling back as they go up) but that can be remedied by putting a wood backing plate under the composite decking where the ladder will go. Something to be aware of is steps take up much more room than a ladder entry. I had a stair system in my old pool and a different one (Confer) in my new pool and they do stick into the water a lot. They are also heavy to remove, for the new stairs I only had to worry about the weight of the 1/2 that was inside the pool unlike my last stair system that I couldn't take apart. Something else to consider is how easy is it for your family to climb ladders vs stairs, stairs are much easier.

I never had a problem with algae even though the water that does come out of the ladder tends to be yucky but at that point I am putting high doses of chlorine before closing the pool and I believe that kills the yuck! I never had the issues that are being presented with my last steps, yes crud gets behind them but crud also gets into the center of the pool and you may need to use a leaf rake to pick it up if you have trees around. My steps never floated out of position once fully filled with water, I was going to rig up something for our new steps but didn't need to. Whatever you get put a pad under it in the pool, we used a bathmat for our first steps and the pool store gave us a pool mat in the package we bought. Just my opinion but the only 2 cons for the stairs are the weight with water in it to get it out of the pool and the amount of space it takes up in the pool.

Thank you! You are correct that I had the wrong idea... I was imagining that reusing the same holes would be bad, but I'm glad to hear that's not the case.

Thanks everyone for the input, I think I'll go with the Confer ladder.

 

[newdude]

I think I'll go with the Confer ladder.

That's what was on the pool we inherited after moving. I was very happy with it being so sturdy.

 

[s0m3oNe]

Thanks for the reassurance! Do you know if yours is weighed down with sand or pea gravel?

 

[newdude]

Do you know if yours is weighed down with sand or pea gravel?

If memory serves it was filled with water. I don't recall it being heavy once it was out. We moved in in Sept and I ripped it out in March or April to build an IG. The couple of times I used it though, I was impressed because I'm 6 foot 3 and 275 lbs and usually break that sort of thing if it's junk.

I had every power tool imaginable there to rip out the insanely fortified pool, I would have cut the weight in half and emptied it to not have to carry it 300 ft to the curb while heavy.

Sand would probably fill all the nooks and crannies of it better than gravel.

 

[Mdragger88]

Don’t pour sand inside your steps!
Algae hotel!
If they need more weight add sand/gravel/concrete filled sealed containers/pvc pipes & attach them to the steps. This way you can also remove them one at a time instead of trying to move all the weight at once & get it out of the pool.

 

[newdude]

Don’t pour sand inside your steps!
Algae hotel!

If memory serves (again lol) it had a good cap/plug that sealed it well. I wish now I paid better attention but I moved in with the intent to rip it out and didn't pay it alot of thought.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

Don’t pour sand inside your steps!
Algae hotel!
If they need more weight add sand/gravel/concrete filled sealed containers/pvc pipes & attach them to the steps. This way you can also remove them one at a time instead of trying to move all the weight at once & get it out of the pool.

Yes, do not pour anything into the ladder/steps. I had seen a photo of a DYI pvc system where the person used 3 or 4 inch pvc filled with sand and sealed with caps. They attached then to the back of the stairs with loose tie wraps and attached the tie wraps to the ladder with a tie wrap holder. Since the tie wraps are loose, once the stairs are in the pool you can just slip the pvc into them and they will hang on them. I thought it was a great idea.

 

[Mdragger88]

If memory serves (again lol) it had a good cap/plug that sealed it well. I wish now I paid better attention but I moved in with the intent to rip it out and didn't pay it alot of thought.

It also makes them very heavy to remove even if they are sealed well.

 

[newdude]

Actually it's a swim barrier, not a weight. There's no mention in the manual about filling it. That's probably why mine was filled with water.

 

[s0m3oNe]

Thanks everyone for the valuable feedback. I'll fill it with water and add sealed pvc + gravel as needed!