Cement slab for inground ladder support.

[Spensar]

Our pool is an inground rectangular 32x16 vinyl liner with aluminum walls. Originally it had one pool ladder in the shallow end, which was loose since we got the house, and we added another ladder by the diving board. A couple of years ago I poured some cement pads to stabilize the old ladder and install the new one.

But, I had a bad pour with the new one (crumbling) and I had used plastic pipe for an anchor so the ladder wasn't bonded. Around the old ladder the pour was perfect, but the ladder anchors are connected with a metal strap that lifts a good half inch when you exit the pool and they craked the slab in no time. I had hoped the slab would hold the strap down. The slab was about 2 feet by 2 feet and about 2.5 inches thick.

This summer I'm going to take another crack at it, hopefully the right way.

For the exsting ladder I'm going to dig out and remove the existing anchor setup and strap. I had thought of digging under the straps and setting them in the middle of the slab, but the anchors sit too high anyway. So the installation for both ladders should be the same this time.

The plan so far:

- pour 2 feet by 2 feet, 5 inch thick slabs.

- use ladder anchor sockets made to imbed into cement and set them flush with the top of the slab.

- bonding the anchors with copper run from the anchor to the pool metal supports.

- colour after the pour if I want to do that. The last time I also coloured the cement and think I messed around too much getting the colour right, which may have been a factor in the bad pour. Maybe afterwards I will colour it with one of the products to colour/texturize cement.


Questions I have:

- Is that slab big ok, too small or overkill? Is bigger better than deeper? I can make the area bigger.

- What kind of cement mix should I use? Is regular premixed cement fine or is something with less gravel in it going to be easier and stronger. eg. a Portland sand mix?

- Should there be some reinforcement steel in the cement?

- Should I put a tube or something under the anchor for drainage or is the cap that goes around the ladder fine for keeping the water out?


Any thoughts and experiences with ladders are greatly appreciated!

[waste]

Spensar, I saw this and thought you had it all under control
Your plan sounds good, using anchor cups that will allow you to fully secure the ladder via the anchor wedges. 2' x2' x 5" should be sufficient and do keep the bottom holes of the cups 'open' so that they can drain. Bonding them to the pool walls is also a very good idea, let's keep the pool and equipment safe for anyone using it!
As you have a small area to do, using Sac-crete or whatever other ready to mix 'crete should do what you want it to do - it's not worth the expense of having a 'ready mix' truck come in for so small an area (they charge extra if you don't get at least 3 yards ) If you want to put a few metal coat hangers in the middle of the pour, for reinforcement, that'd be good, though I doubt it's necessary.

Should you need any other help, or clarification on what I've said - please feel free to ask -- good luck with this project and HAPPY SWIMMING

[Spensar]

Thanks very, very much for the feedback. Great tip with the coathangers, I won't stress myself cutting down some old rebar that was left over from the old owners.

For the record, I also PM'ed Waste on this and he added "to not install the ladders for 3 weeks after pouring the pads, as the stress to 'uncured' crete could cause premature failing of the crete."

I went AH-HA with that as I used the ladders within a couple of days last time. So with this job, I'll do one slab, let it sit for 3 weeks and then do the other.

[waste]

Spensar, always glad to help Thank you for mentioning the 3 week wait period that I neglected in my original post - it saves me having to edit my post