A new question on Drop-in Steps

[karrde97]

I think the big question is what kind of steps do you have? I bought a set of Wedding Cake steps a couple years ago. The only place to put weights is along the bottom step which covers the front and part of the side. This doesn't provide a good center of gravity as the back side keeps floating up. It relies on the hand rail being fastened to the deck also. I didn't want to do this because I have to move the steps to clean(after my algae explosion last year) and I didn't want to mangle my composite decking at the time. I put 3 80# of concrete wrapped in garbage bags. When I pulled them out for the winter, they had leaked gravel out causing a big mess. Clean up was easy.....we moved.

We put the pool up at the new house and dropped our steps in 2 days ago. We put a couple deck blocks also. Didn't work. I worried about the duct tape dissolving over time as to what it would do to the pool.

Last night we went and bought a straight ladder. Works great and have more swimming room.

In the end, your steps need a good center of gravity point to place the weights and good water flow. Then you shouldn't need that much to hold them down. Using over 80# just seems like a design flaw.

[karrde97]

Update on the Straight ladder. Not liking it too much either. It's a hollow PVC like with the back open. An algae/water boatman breeding ground. Plus there is no way to weigh it down. I'm trying to find a way to fill the openness to 1) weigh it down, 2) eliminate the breeding ground. Any ideas besides concrete? That would make the ladder 100lbs.