Ladder & Handrail Parts

You may be surprised to learn that a large number of swimming pool injuries occur on pool ladders - those with loose rails or cracked step treads. Maintain your ladders and rails by checking the bolt tightness regularly on the ladder treads and anchor socket wedges, and inspecting for signs of material fatigue.

Ladder Anchor Sockets: Inground pool and spa ladders, handrails and slide legs are all made with the same diameter steel tubing - 1.9" OD. These fit snugly into a 2" deck anchor socket, or into Deck Flanges, installed on top of the pool deck. Aboveground pool ladders use a standard 1.6" diameter steel tubing. In-deck rail sockets use a brass wedge to tighten up the rail and deck flanges use a single horizontal bolt. When installing a ladder into new concrete, a set of anchors on a steel channel is used, to keep both sockets parallel and aligned with each other. Brass, Aluminum or Plastic rail anchors? Check with your local code requirements, and remember that inground ladder sockets should be bonded, or connected to a bare #8 wire, connected to the pool bonding grid.

Escutcheon Plates: Also called beauty rings or trim rings and often misspelled as escution plates, these are used to cover the deck anchor on an inground pool ladder, to hide it from view, and also to prevent stubbed toes or cuts from sharp steel edges of the ladder anchor. Escutcheon plates are available in several styles - round, key or double, in plastic or chromed stainless steel, and whole or two-piece. Two piece snap-fit escutcheon plates allow installation without removal of the ladder.

Ladder Bumpers: Ladder bumpers are placed on the end of the ladder rails, where they curve to meet the pool wall. Without a ladder bumper in place, a vinyl liner will be cut easily with the sharp metal edge, cutting a clean round hole, of 1.9" diameter. On plaster pools the damage takes more time, but within one season, you will start to see damage to the plaster. Therefore, it is very important to check that ladder bumpers are firmly intact, to protect your pool wall or pool liner. Two types of ladder rail guards are available, male ladder bumpers which fit inside the rail, and female ladder bumpers, which fit over the outside of the rail. Female bumpers tend to not fall off as easily, but may wear through more quickly, on pool ladders used frequently.

Ladder Hardware: Ladder Hardware includes ladder tread nuts, washers and bolts, all 316 Stainless Steel. Ladder bolts have a rounded flat head, to snug up against the ladder rail without causing a hazard to swimsuits, hair or wet fingers. Our hardware page also contains the bolt and lag kits to install deck flanges flush onto the pool deck, for ladders or for slide legs.

Ladder Treads: Also known as ladder steps, but the actual term is ladder treads. A few are made of stainless steel, but most are made of an ABS plastic. Be sure to measure your step tread from hole to hole and for overall length, and compare to the information provided, as many ladder treads look similar. We also carry in-wall ladder treads, known as recessed wall pool steps. Replacing pool wall steps is a large effort, especially when compared to the ease of installing replacement ladder treads. Old cracked steps are cut-out, and new steps are secured with rebar pins and a large amount of hydraulic cement, then coated over with pool plaster.