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jon1270

Concrete experts - outdoor stairs on grade?

Jon1270
16 years ago

My parents' driveway is cut down into the hill on which their house was built; the bottom half of the garage walls are cinderblock, buried about 4' in the hill. Anyhow, this means there's a short stair, leading up the bank alongside the driveway, to the yard and the path to the house. The existing stair is treated wood landscaping timbers that were put in place about 30 years ago. It also incorporates a retaining wall on the side closer to the garage. These stairs have always been slippery but now are rotting, becoming more and more hazardous to my aging parents. I'd like to help them think through replacement options. I don't think the situation lends itself to precast stairs, so my instinct is that they should be cast-in-place concrete. I don't have a clear idea of what's required to do that; would such an arrangement require a footer that goes below the frost line? I'm also concerned about making them look decent; this is the primary arrival area for the house.

Thanks for any thoughts you might have.

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