steps for a 4-foot shallow end?

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rob42

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May 7, 2018
24
Bowie, MD
I am having my pool reconfigured to fill in the "diving hole" in the deep end, and dig out the shallow end to 4' of water, 54" to pool rim.

I had a set of "wedding cake"-like drop-in steps from a Canadian manufacturer, with nice chrome rails mounted to the concrete deck. Called "The Step". They are not cheap!

I can't find anything like them for a deeper pool. The rule seems to be that 4' steps are "above ground" steps, and 3' steps are "in-ground" steps as far as drop-ins go. Most of the AG drop-ins are designed for a curved AG pool, and the vendors practically forbid you to put them in an IG pool! Most of the designs (Confer, etc) seem to be pretty terrible IMO. Fill them with sand to make them permanently heavy, then they must be removed from the pool at the end of the season. Egad!

It's very late in the game, but I am now looking to see if Merlin can provide a corner step for this depth that the vinyl liner would go over. Seems like almost the only option, unless I have missed something in the marketplace.

Any thoughts or solutions? Thanks!
 
Nobody makes that step you seek. You will have a cove around the whole shallow end amd that angle makes it very tricky to do stairs. Custom liner over stairs is likely your only option amd the liner measurement is gonna be a nail biter on something like this

Have you though about a wedge bottom starting normal amd going to the depth you want or a secondary shelf with the 54" depth. Would simplify things greatly

What shape of pool? Pic?
 
The pool is rectangular, 16x32. There's no coving -- steel wall all the way down. It's dug, and the hard bottom is in. Very few options due to COVID. Merlin and other suppliers had nothing in stock for an under-liner step, and they can't be made in any reasonable time frame (read: swim this season). I will either buy an AG step (~44"), or hack the steps I have now. Things being what they are, I will have a hard enough time finding an AG step that I like. It's funny -- I keep coming back to this Canadian company -- InnovaPlas -- but finding an actual product to lay hands on is another matter.

The step hack would be to bolt a box on top of my existing 33" step -- 9 x 12 x 11" high. What to make it out of? Hmm... Maybe a really nice milk crate! :)
 
So you had 54" walls to begin with amd they were buried part way? I'm not following as you started by saying you were digging out shallow to 4' that implies you would have an angle down to a lower floor in shallow end.
Regardless a fiberglass guy could make an extension to stairs, or you can DIY as well, and look factory made. Just a thought. Plenty of how to vids on glass work online
 
The walls were extended. The new steel is lapped to the old above, and sunk into the hard bottom.

I really like the idea of fabricating a bottom step. Thanks! My only concern is that the original steps are rotomolded, and are past their prime in terms of exposure to the elements, so I should probably not invest further in them.

I have a good deal on a used Merlin Aqua Staircase. I don't love the shape, but it has a reasonable design (removeable ballast, smooth bottom) and is rated for something crazy like 700 pounds. I will probably go with that for now.

Maybe longer term, I can look into fabricating a corner step. I remember my father building a 21' Luger sailboat from a semi truckload of small pieces. If he can do that, I can build steps. :)
 
That's interesting, I've never seen that done. Have any pics of the steelwork to share?

The old stairs can be useful for a form. Its actually easier to veneer an existing product and add onto it with several layers. You can make anything with a little patience and youtube/internet
 
This guy did it! Also someone said you’d have to have a special liner, why wouldn’t an expandable liner one size up from yours cover the issue with the steps? I also have a 54” and the wedding cake steps. The steps were from our trial pool which was intex and rusted out before a year. Bc we are getting a bigger either in ground or semi-in ground next year I’m dealing with them being a tad to short. As many of you know pools were almost impossible to buy spring 2020. I thought about either purchasing concrete steps, or placing the wedding cake steps on cinder blocks to raise it up and using the expandable liner a size up, since it’s temporary I didn’t bother with it. Keep us posted!
 
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