Hello all you "do- it – yourselfers", I would like to explain to all of you how I (Amanda) weighted down my swimming pool steps. Owning a swimming pool can be a lot of fun but can also be a lot of hard work to maintain. I am sure that if you own a pool you spend a good amount of time thinking about things like keeping the PH at the correct level and making sure the pool water is free of dirt and leaves. But how often do you think about whether or not your pool steps are safely secured? It is important to properly weight your pool steps so that you and your guests can avoid injury that might result from losing your balance and falling. You should also install support railings on the sides of your pool steps so you can hold on as you walk into your pool. You will want to be sure that the attached railings are strong enough to support approximately 300 pounds of weight so that people of all shapes and sizes can hold on to the railings without breaking them.
The problem with pool steps that are not weighted is that they will float to the surface of the water since most of them are made of plastic. These days you can find very inexpensive ways to weight your plastic pool steps to the bottom of the pool. You do not have to spend an arm and a leg to have a safe set of pool steps to use to enter and enjoy your swimming pool. The way that I weighted down my pool steps was by using empty milk gallon containers and sand/dirt from my yard. Follow the steps below and you will have a quick and easy way to securely weight your pool steps.
First, pick the spot in your pool that you want to permanently anchor the pool steps and place the pool steps in that location. You will want to choose a place that is level so that the steps will not shift or become uneven which could cause people to injure themselves by slipping and falling.
Next, you will want to find four empty gallon sized milk containers. You could also use empty juice or soda bottles if you have those.
Next, you will need to collect enough dirt from your yard to completely fill each of these 4 containers. You can also use sand, rocks or gravel if you would like to. It does not matter which of these materials you use, the bottles simply need to be heavy enough to hold the pool steps in place.
Then, look at the inside of the pool steps and locate the ledge. Take the four bottles you just filled with sand (or whatever material you chose) and put them on the ledge. You want to be sure that the bottles will not be in an area where swimmers might step on them. Keep them out of the way so that no one will trip on them and injure themselves.
Finally, you will need to remember to replace all 4 milk jugs or soda bottles once every month. Over the course of a month the chemicals you put into your pool might weaken and deteriorate the cheap plastic used to create milk containers and soda bottles and you don’t want the dirt to leak into your pool water.
Doing your research pays off, by using household items and spending less than an hour of your time you now have a safe and inexpensive system to weight your pool steps. This method will keep you and your family safe and is even environmentally friendly!