Repairing Concrete Steps
Many houses both old and even newer have concrete steps that are crumbling along the edges or otherwise cracked and damaged. It’s not a particularly hard project to repair them, but it takes time to recast the damaged steps. Here’s an outline of what to do provided by a a local Aurora/Naperville contractor.
You’ll need to gather some tools including a cold chisel, a sledgehammer, a broom, water hose, regular hammer, wheelbarrow, a shovel, an old stiff paintbrush, and a trrowel and concrete wood float.
You’ll also need the boards you’ll use a forms to hold the cement, some bricks, some nails, liquid concrete bonding agent (this is to help secure the new concrete to the old solid portion that will remain.) and of course the ready-mix concrete mix.
Start the project by preparing the edge of each damaged step by chiseling out the crumbling concrete. You must wear safety goggles due to the risk of flying concrete pieces. Use a cold chisel and sledgehammer to deepen and widen the open edge down to where the concrete is solid.
Angle the chisel to cut straight back into the riser of the step and to cut sharply back and down into the tread, forming an open V along the edge of the step. Clean out the undercut edge with a small broom and flush it out with a garden hose.
Build a form around the step to be recast. Use a board as long and as wide as the front edge of the step is wide and high; set the board across the riser and stack several bricks against it at each end to hold it firmly in place.
To close in the ends of the steps, set a board across each side of the chiseled-out step, flush against the concrete and level with the step surface at the top edge. Nail a piece of 2 × 4 across each board along the top of the step and wedge another piece of 2 × 4 under this brace to hold the forms in place.
Now prepare the ready-mix according to the directions on the package. Pour the dry mix into the wheelbarrow, adding water as specified on the package, and mix it thoroughly with a shovel.
When the concrete mix is ready to use, lightly spray the chiseled-out step with the water hose to dampen the concrete. Working quickly, apply liquid concrete bonding agent to the undercut edge with a stiff paintbrush according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Spread the bonding agent evenly into the undercut edge, being careful to cover the entire inside surface. Clean the paintbrush immediately with water.
Fill the boarded-in step's edge cavity with concrete, using a trowel or the shovel to spread it along the edge. Slice through the new concrete with the sharp end of the trowel to remove any air spaces, and pack the concrete firmly into the undercut edge. Level the surface roughly with the trowel to meet the surface of the old concrete.
Smooth the newly poured concrete with a wood float. Be careful to hold the float level on the old surface and the new edge. Let the newly poured edge harden for about 45 minutes and then smooth the surface again with the wood float to match the texture of the old concrete.
Let the concrete set until the film of surface water left by the final smoothing has been absorbed. Cover the steps with a plastic dropcloth.
Let the patched edges cure for a week before walking on them. Several times each day during the curing period, lift off the plastic and spray the new steps lightly with the fine spray of water, then replace the plastic. To keep the new edges from being damaged, leave the forms in place until the concrete has completely cured.
Basement remodel
