Repaired Front steps today
Over the winter the many freeze thaw cycles started to damage my Front steps. The first two steps had cracked but were more or less stable. 
In Feburary one evening as I was taking Grizzy for his walk the third step started to collapse. I took a pick to the softened crumbling concrete and found a larger problem than just the outer surface cracking away. The inner concrete was soft and breaking up. This was beyond any surface repair, I would have to frame the stairs up and pour at least an inch of new concrete. I can't purchase a set of precast stairs that large so a replacement would need to be built in place. Plus rebuilding the steps is a larger job than I want to tackle - I could handle the surface pour but not a total rebuild.
I considered pouring another inch or so of concrete but that is allot of work for what might be a short term repair - the inner concrete was soft and after a few years I am sure water would start to get inside and the outer surface would heave and crack. Rather than get a contractor in to replace I decided to cover the steps with wood. I figure that should get me a few more years of use out of the old steps and can have them replaced and possibly upgrade to brick. It was a fairly simple job, once I determined the height of the riser to level the steps I just had to rip the 2 by 8's and cut the treads. I used thick 5/4" decking - basic quality - 11 8' boards and 3 12 foot 2 by 8's. I have nailed each tread into the riser above then reversed the assembly so I can nail the treads to the top of the risers. I also screwed a few of the treads to solid concrete so secure the assembly.
All and all it is a pretty good repair, maybe $70 in materials.
New Steps - completed. Most important of all I no longer need to keep them roped off - I did not want anyone to slip and fall coming up to my front door - in their deteriorating condition they looked like a major liability issue.
Labels: House
posted by Jon at Homer @ 10:40 PM
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