Were my pool stairs installed properly?

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M

madpsintst

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Jul 1, 2014
6
Mississauga, Ontario
Hi everyone. I am new to pool ownership having recently had my first pool installed. It is a steel in-ground pool with a vinyl liner, cantilever coping, and fiberglass (acrylic?) stairs. After having enjoyed the pool for a few weeks, I wonder if the builder might have installed my pool stairs incorrectly. At the junction where the liner meets the stairs, there is a gap where water leaks out whenever there are any waves caused by swimmers. I have attached a couple of photos so you can see what I mean.

What puzzles me is that the stairs are installed beneath the concrete coping, but my stairs have a bulge that sticks out. The bulge seems to be the same shape as the cantilever coping. What is the purpose of this bulge? The liner is held in place by a channel that ends below the bulge because the bulge is in the way. Were the stairs supposed to be installed flush with the deck surface? That is, is the purpose of the bulge to match the coping contour? Or did the builder install the wrong stairs for use with cantilever coping?

It just seems odd that there is a gaping hole were a small amount water leaks out thousands of times per day. Over time this adds up such that A LOT of water leaking below the concrete deck. I suspect this will cause problems over time. I spoke to my builder and he says the installation was normal and correct, and there is nothing to worry about. I am looking for a second opinion. Is he being truthful? Thanks for any help you can offer.

1 pool stairs far view.jpg2 pool stairs close view b.jpg
 
Hello mad.
If I were you, I would look up the manufacturer and model of those steps to see how its trimmed out.

On my steps that piece of trim that holds the liner is not attached to the face of the step like your is. I believe that white piece is supposed to be on the "lip" of the steps which goes behind the liner about an inch or maybe a little more. Moving the trip off of the face of the steps would allow the liner to come straight up to the bottom of the coping, like its supposed to.

Here is a pic of mine. You can see how the white trim is not on the face of the steps like yours is. Dont know if this helps describe what Im trying to say or not.

 
To me it looks like the steps should have been installed higher so that they were even with the coping. The edges are straight where the liner attaches, then at the same level as the coping there is a "bulge" that would mimic a coping line. If they had been installed higher and the coping lined up with the "bulge", the liner would be caught in the track all the way up to the coping line and everything would be fine. I am seriously no expert on this at all, but it looks really wrong to me - not just like you are missing a piece of trim wrong, but wrong wrong.
 

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Steps are installed to deep, they should be flush with the ground, not having the patio come over the top. Whose idea was that? The bulge on the steps is there to meet the edge of the coping on the pool. As someone else said, that isn't just a little wrong, but wrong wrong. It looks like they cut the liner to try and fix their mistake also.
 
Vinyl Pool Steps come in two models or designs...
Model number one is like my pool and the on that G&G posted, with the top edge of the steps level, or there abouts, with top of the deck.
Model 2 is the cantelevered steps and is desging to have coping on top of it. The cantilevered step should be the on installed on the OPs pool.

WHich step was installed is paramount in determing what should be done to fix it.
 
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