Replacing an existing diving board or installing a new one is a relatively quick and painless process. In fact, the hardest part of installing a diving board is determining the proper placement and determining if there’s enough room in your pool for a diving board.
Step one - Identifying Installation Location
The first thing you should do is determine if you have enough room to dive safely. The figure below shows the minimum recommended measurements for safe diving.
While it looks confusing, it’s actually quite straightforward. Search for the locations in your pool as indicated on the figures above and as long as the measurements hit or exceed the minimum numbers specified then you’re good to go!
If the image is unclear, you can download the high resolution manual directly from S.R. Smith by clicking here.
Step Two - Installing the Base
The base of your diving board should be place at the middle section of the deck at the far side/deepest portion of your pool that fits the minimum distances indicated above. We cannot stress enough the importance of following these minimum distances for safety reasons. It’s all fun and games until someone gets into a serious accident.
Identify the mounting location and ensure that you will be mounting it directly onto concrete. If three are tiles, it would be best to chisel out the installation segment and re-pour with solid concrete with at least 3500PSI compressive strength or greater. This is the point that takes most of the stress and the weight from using the diving board so it should be as strong as possible.
Step 3 - Setting the Bolts
Set 606/608 four bolt jig in accordance with the Installation Chart above with the two “RED” capped bolts closest to the pool. The jig may have moved during shipping so ensure that they are aligned properly before pouring concrete. There should be 1 and ½ inches of exposed bolt above and 8 inches of cement securing the jig to your deck surface.
Allow the concrete to set according to manufacturer’s specifications. Once it has set, chisel out any excess concrete and smooth out the surface so that the base mounts flush on the surface. After this is done, you can now remove the red and yellow caps on the bolts.
Step 4 - Mounting and Tightening the base
Don’t worry about the number of bolts, nuts, and washers included in the package, these are all included to ensure that your new diving board is snug and secure. Install and tighten all the bolts in the correct order because the spring cannot be secured to the stand after the stand has been assembled to the jig!
- Place springs over the stand and secure. (You will be using parts 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13)
- Tighten MOUNTING hex nuts
- Place stand over jig bolts and tighten ANCHOR hex nuts (You will be using parts 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19)
- Check that the base is flush with the cement surface and it is secured properly.
- Install the diving board (You will be using parts 5, 6, 7,8, 14, 17, 18, and 19 for this step)
- Once the board is secured and installed, ensure that the deck end is level with the tip or have an upward slope of ⅝” per food maximum! Elevation difference should not exceed 6 inches from the deck end to the tip of the board. For safety reasons, there should be no downward slope towards the water. (see figure below for visualization)
Other Installation notes
Now the best thing we can recommend when it comes to installing diving boards is to seek professional help so that you don’t miss anything when it comes to all of the safety requirements. Remember, these requirements are there for a reason. Not adhering to these requirements can get you in trouble with the local safety board at the very least and at the worse-case scenario cause permanent injuries or even worse.
SEE ALSO: How easy is it to install a pool slide?
Conclusion
You may ask youself, if I'm going to get professional help, then why do I need to know these guidelines? Well, by knowing the installation instructions and guidelines, you'll know if it's possible to install a diving board for your pool in the first place and you can make a decision before calling in the pros and you can make a decision on what type of diving board is suitable for your pool! Need more help? Send over your question below and our team will get back to you in no time at all!
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Happy swimming :)