Hi Stephen,
Are you saying that you need to find a way to bring more of your yard up to pool level so it can serve as a deck? Not sure that I totally understand your situation but I'll take a shot.
10.5" is no big deal. I have a much more challenging situation on one side of my pool that I'm currently dealing with. I'm building a wall using EP Henry wall blocks that will bring the problem area up to deck level. Then I plan to fill the area with dirt, stone and pieces of slate.
If this is your situation, I can take some pictures and post. Not sure how handy you are with this type of thing. A project like this is challenging but I learned it on the fly (so obviously it's not rocket science).
Lenny
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