Concrete steps repair/replace

[TomR]

This is for a friend. He needs to repair or replace the outdoor concrete front steps shown in the photo below. He may need to have the whole thing removed and replaced, from top to bottom, including the landing etc.

The question is, are there less expensive options that may also be an option?

For example, is it possible to just remove the several damaged steps, and only replace those few, instead of replacing the landing and everything else?

Or, is it possible to do a repair on only the damaged steps by maybe removing the spalled and damaged areas, anchoring in some wire mesh in those areas, and then re-forming/repairing just those areas?

Any other ideas or possibilities? Thanks.

Here is the photo:

[Ed Pawlowski]

Long run, it may be easier to remove and replace with a pre-cast set of steps.

It is not easy to remove and replace. It may be possible for a talented concrete guy to do some patching and forming to fill in the bad spots, but that is just a measure to get by for a time. If one of the patches lets loose when you are carrying in some packages, it may be an expensive mishap on the packages and body.

It may also be possible to do something like lay on a slate veneer on the top of the steps and mortar in the fronts. You'd need someone with more expertise than me to check it out.

[bob haller]

steps are past end of life. I have repaired ones like your photo, but in the end replacement is better.

The issue is, if the bond between the old step and patch fails, the bond can fail quickly and whoever is on the steps can fall, and might get hurt.

I have wooden steps built to replace concrete ones that failed some 15 years ago.

now the wood ones need replaced

[hrhofmann]

My first thought was to put in wooden steps, it does not require the effort that patching or rebuilding concrete steps would require. But the disposal of the old steps may be more of a problem than what to replace them with...

[TomR]

I agree that it may not be easy to remove and replace. I don't have a side view photo, and I don't know how the original steps are poured and constructed.

I once had a very small 3-step set of back door concrete steps to remove and replace. I replaced them with a small wood deck/landing and wood steps. But, removing the old steps in that project was tough. They were one solid block of concrete. The only good thing was that they did not have any rebar in them.

I rented a jack hammer and I thought that I could break them up and haul them away. It was such a solid concrete mess that I was only able to break some pieces off and, in the end, I was left with a small solid ball of concrete with no "edges" or pieces to break off with the jack hammer. Finally, I just dug a big hole and I rolled that last piece of concrete into the hole and buried it -- not really legal where I am, I don't think, but that's what I did.

That is why I am wondering if there may be a way to either repair the existing steps in this project, or maybe leave the landing and possibly the first step down from the top, and then remove and replace the 3 steps below that.

I guess it all depends on exactly what is there now and how the steps were built. Another possibility would be to look at nearby steps and see if they all appear to have been built the same way at the same time. Maybe that would give a clue as to what to do with these steps.

[TomR]

No ADA compliance issues. The steps are for two single family homes with different owners. Neither is a place for public accommodation etc. That's a good thing since there would be no way to make either home wheelchair accessible etc.

[TomR]

Well, to help answer my own post, I just did some YouTube and Google searches, and it looks to me like repairing these types of damaged steps is a fairly common option.

Here are a few of the videos that I found as examples:

[TomR]

Yep, that would be my plan, and that's what I will suggest to my friend.

That last video is by a mason who works in the same State where my friend's property is located, but he is not close enough for my friend to use him for the work. But, it is clear that doing a repair job for this type of step damage does work. This guy doesn't use any special additives, cleaners, bonding agents, or anchoring screws etc. The product that he uses is called Cement All Rapid Set cement:

[CRNG]

On Sun, 12 Apr 2015 10:36:40 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote in

+1

[W2 Wage Slave]

Build a larger deck/porch (using treated lumber) over the top?

[Moe DeLoughan]

One of my neighbors handled this by building wooden steps with a railing right over/around the existing concrete steps. While he was at it, he made the landing larger. Worked out nicely.

[Tekkie®]

Oren posted for all of us...

+1 I like your forethought. That is exactly what I did with my steps.

[bob haller]

I used the tapcons years ago. one day the step collapsed, thje concrete the tapcon was in turned to dust.

IWe then built a wood landing and steps over the concrete ones.

that must of been 20 years ago, the wwood structure now needs replaced......

fortunately no one was seriously hurt when the step collapsed