Help: Concrete front steps - pouring

[Pat Barry]

I think you need to find a mason, not a contractor. Some guy out of Craigslist for example. Someone looking for extra cash and willing to work nights / weekends. Contractors look at your job as too small to be worthwhile.

[John Coloccia]

Reputable contractors are so busy this year they are reluctant to even bid more jobs unless you are definitely planning to do the job. I talked to a window contractor in June about replacing some windows and he said up to 14 weeks to get the windows. He said it didn't really matter that the windows took that long because he was already booked for installs into September.

I talked to a contractor about giving me an estimate on fixing up a foreclosed house and he wouldn't even bid the job unless I was really serious about buying the house and having the work done. The contractor said the economy has turned around a bit and many contractors left the business so the remaining ones are working like crazy. I ended up signing a purchase agreement for the house without a bid from any contractor. I ended up with about three weeks to get bids done during the inspection contingency period. I got two budgetary type bids and then selected one of them to write up a final bid and to do the work. (Contractor starts next week.)

Yeah, but it's just a common courtesy, and good business, to call someone back and say you're not interested. It's not like I don't remember who these guys are, and it's not like I don't do large projects too and talk to other people that do large projects. Things won't be hot forever, and then they'll be back to crying in their beer again, just like they were a couple of years ago. I know this because I used to hear them crying in their beer at the local pub, and I also knew exactly why they had no work but why the guys I used were still busy and scheduling jobs weeks in advance.

I guess I expect too much.

[Curt Fuller]

John, mix..pour all you want. The fiber mesh idea is good. But the most essential key to making the new steps stand up to the Connecticut winter is using an air entrained cement when you mix your concrete. Here in Yewtah you can buy both air entrained and non entrained cements in bags. Give it plenty of mix time in your mixer....at least 120 revolutions. And keep the slump low (water cement ratio). Have fun. BTW, you didn't mention whether you were buying sand and gravel separate or using the bagged mix. If you're mixing it from scratch, a good, easy mix is 3 shovels of rock, 2 sand, 1 cement.

[Brian Elfert]

Yeah, but it's just a common courtesy, and good business, to call someone back and say you're not interested. It's not like I don't remember who these guys are, and it's not like I don't do large projects too and talk to other people that do large projects. Things won't be hot forever, and then they'll be back to crying in their beer again, just like they were a couple of years ago. I know this because I used to hear them crying in their beer at the local pub, and I also knew exactly why they had no work but why the guys I used were still busy and scheduling jobs weeks in advance.

I had two contractors do an initial bid on the project. I told the contractor I chose not to move forward with that I would not be using his services. I didn't just leave him hanging.

[Chris Padilla]

Hit YouTube HARD, John. There are a lot of good videos on there to help you out with your concrete. I recently helped a buddy pour a small slab in his garage (post-tension concrete in his new place...can't drill into it I guess) so he could lock-down a large gun cabinet. We rented a mixer that could handle two bags at a time and went for it. For two newbies brought up on YouTube, I thought we did pretty good. Steps have, well, more step involved but the basics are the same: pour, vibrate, trowel to rise the "cream" to the surface but don't over trowel and keep things wet for a couple of days.

[Tom M King]

Here are a couple of pics of some steps we formed up, going down into an early 19th century basement. The concrete was the base to lay bricks on. The forms need to have no weak points, with all corners well tied together. Having the side, retaining walls made this formwork actually easier than if it was just the steps. We were pouring some massive footings under old chimneys that had none, so this was just added to the order. Around here, there is a 3 yard minimum-you pay for three yards even if you only need a half yard. I have an ancient concrete mixer that I converted to run off the PTO on the tractor, rather than having another motor to keep up. If I need a couple of yards, I'll pay for the three off the truck.

If these were going to be finished concrete, I would have built the forms heavier. Since we were laying brick on top, it didn't have to stay perfect. The OSB did bulge a little, but not enough to matter for this job.

[Tom M King]

Here's the other part of that job. It's the first base under an 1828, 43 foot tall chimney we needed to jack up, and push back into place against the house. The basement had been dug out for one of our waterproofing jobs. This base under the chimney was designed to use to jack off of. Notice the two level screed. During the earthquake we had a few years ago, it shook some of the old paint off the walls inside, but the new plaster against the chimneys we had jacked back in place like this didn't even crack. There was another pour that ran all under the chimneys, and sat on top of this footing. We left 6-25 ton hydraulic jacks, a 10" I-beam, and four 1"x12"x2' steel plates inside the second pour.

This was before we scratched out under the chimney to put the steel and jacks in place. This was just for the first level pour.

A screed like that is useful for a set of steps too.

[John Coloccia]

Well, I have...allegedly have...a guy coming "in the next week or so" to check it out. I guess I called him while he was on a roof, and he asked me to text him my address. If that doesn't work, I'll just bite the bullet and do it myself. I really don't have the time or the inclination at this point since I have so many other things to do these days, but I'd better get it done before winter comes. I certainly can't do a worse job than what's already there, so I don't see why I'm even worrying about it other than my tendency to over analyze things sometimes.

I just really can't stand not doing things right, and I'm always a little hesitant to start something like this because it always seems to open a can of worms by revealing past sins. In this case, the steps have never heaved before, so whatever is under there....footings or just dirt...is obviously solid enough that I can pour right on top of whatever it is and hopefully expect the same.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll post some before and afters when I finally get to it.

[John Coloccia]

Finally found the right solution. It's actually something I'd considered doing but really didn't want to mess with. One contractor suggested covering it with blue stone. Fine idea. His prices was a little high, but he's also going to fix a dry stack retaining wall/steps, and his price on that was VERY low. Basically it works out to $3500 for both jobs, and that's very reasonable.

[Chuck Wintle]

A pretty good video on pouring a slab.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed6q3mkJ0xs