Hello!

I’ve been planning to do an in-ground pool swap with my 40 year old liner pool kit with a rebar, gunite, plaster.  I’ve learned so much from this website, I thought I’d ask a few questions before pulling the trigger this weekend.

my plans were approved pretty easily due to the in ground engineering being all good with the previous pool. The problem is, my father and I got crazy and removed a metal wall liner section before we realized going gunite would actually be a much easier solution!  The ground is caving in under the concrete deck above, and I don’t want that to be a problem later on.  (See pic 1)

I have a plan of attack to give it the best amount of structure back to it, but I’m sure it’s not as good as it can be.  My future plans with this deck are to cover it with more concrete or pavers.

I plan to replace the missing piece with 3/4 plywood and screw it to the other sides of metal.  Then I’ll replace some missing soil, and then gravel.  I will leave the top 1’ open and attach some rebar to the frame of the pool which will allow some rebar and gunite to get directly under the slab and hopefully give it some structure. 

The second part of my question is a pretty easy one I think.  My pool shape is a basic 16×36 rectangle.  If I drop in a 12×12 grid to the entire shape, can I add prefabricated benches and stairs on top of that?  There is no excavated ground for fill behind them. I’m going over my IRC today, but am a little shaky on the stairs bench setup. 

sorry for the ramblings.   Not sure how much help I’ll receive on this, but I had to ask!

thank you!!