Above Ground Pool, Adding a deck. Above or Below pool rail?
 

Last year I got suckered into putting up an above ground pool by my wife and kids.
Well, Now I'm stuck building a deck. I'm debating on whether to build the deck over the top rail of the pool or put it slightly under and leaving enough room to put my cover on in the fall/winter.

If anyone has an above ground pool with a deck above or below the rails and could post pics I would really appreciate it. I'm planning to put concrete footings at about 4 feet deep to prevent heaving from a hard freeze. Our frost line is 3 feet so I figure I'll go slightly deeper to prevent any heave. My primary concern is being able to put the winter cover on without a lot of grief. Another concern is when the time comes to replace my liner I don't want to have to remove the deck to do so.

I appreciate all advice, tips and pics.

aboveground pools with decks makes it very hard to change liners unless your pool has a hung liner. over the wall liner requires removal of top rails and caps. impossible with above the rail decking and extremely difficult/impossible with below rail unless a large enough gap is left to pull liner over wall, install coping and replace rails. having done hundreds of aboveground pools and half as many liner changes, I either turned the job down when there's a deck, removed enough decking to do my job, or if there is enough room to get to liner changed, *****ed and moaned the entire time I'm crawling under the deck, getting buzzed by wasps, banging my head on deck supports and swearing that was my last liner change with a deck. I don't do those anymore. above ground pools really need decks but plan ahead for liner changes. if your pool uses a hung liner, disregard all this and go for it. BTW, a hung liner has a bead on the edge that rides in a track around inside top edge of wall so top rail doesn't need to be removed for liner change

I put mine under the rail for the exact reason the OP mentioned. I'd take pictures but it's nearly midnight. :)

I get what you're saying. I installed my pool, it came with a over the wall liner. It was hard enough doing without a deck over it so I can see how a deck would make it all that much more fun.
I was trying to think of a way to put the deck on and still keep things serviceable. I'm considering a cantilever setup that extends over the top and is bolted to the main deck. I'd have to do it in 2 or 3 pieces which would cause more work now but less in the future if/when the liner needed replaced. I was thinking along the lines of using 2x10 joists up to the rail then using 3/4" grade 8 bolts and 2x8's level with the top of the 2x10 to extend out over the rail. This would allow me to unbolt a 18" section over the rail and take it off in order to put a liner on in the future. The cost for lumber would go up but since I'm building it myself the additional cost of the materials really doesn't mean that much.

My understanding of the problem with an under the rail deck is the caps for the rail have screws that need removed in order to get the top rail off. I'm going to go outside today and study my pool rail and see exactly what needs to go for a liner to be installed.

Thanks to everyone so far for their input.

2x10's? man you guys go overboard with everything. I've built several decks and worked under twice as many. every one was built with 4x4 posts, 2x6 framing and 2x6 decking. the biggest problem with changing the liner is the joists right closest to the rail. always too close to remove screws, too close to pull liner over the wall... even if you remove decking.. keep it back several inches from rail and you still have more than enough support for deck

There's how they get away with 2x6 joists and most likely running short spans or a longer span with a supporting center beam with no unsupported span of more than 8 feet. My deck is going to be 22'long and somewhat wrap around. I'll have my long rim band at 22 feet then I've got about 5 joists that will be 20' long with the shortest length being about 14 feet. A 2x6 with a 5/4 (don't ask me why they call it that)x6 would bounce and feel a little "spongy" as would a 2x6 with a 2x6 deck board even if you put a support under it. BTW, I'm still putting a 2x6 support beam under the 2x10 floor structure so my longest unsupported span is only 10 feet. I only want to build this once or really I don't want to build it at all but have no choice because I'm too cheap to pay someone to build it and too picky to have someone build it too.

Thanks for your help!

My dad built a deck partially around our above ground pool. He cantileverd the deck a few inches leaving enough room beneath to manipulate the liner, if needed. He also buried the pool about 1/2 way so you could get in or out without too much difficulty. Essentially it looked like a two foot pool that was 4 feet deep. There were steps to the decking and a ladder from the deck into the pool.

This was back in the olden days before all the kids drowned and you didn't have to fence the yard with an electrified 10 foot bobwire fence topped with concertina wire and video cameras though.