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Gardening with Stone

Problematic paver over concrete slab steps

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

I have a problematic steps. The previous owner installed it, but the whole thing keeps collapsing. Take a look at the photos.

One issue is that I am not sure how it's supposed to be constructed. Underneath the top paver is a concrete slab, then there are some bricks at the edge with an overhang supported by another paver brick. The bricks on tops are sitting on top of solid concrete, but I don't how the bricks are held up a the edge. I am thinking it's some sort of crush rock base. The problem is that when you step on the overhand, it probably applies a lot of pressure and eventually cause the brick underneath to come loose. I had a contractor come and fix it. He fix it a few times but failed to solve the issue. He did fix the driveway and there appears to be little problem there, so the steps appears to be beyond his skills.

Is this just a poor design or is there a way to get it right? How should this be constructed?

Paul

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Comments (5)

PRO
KD Landscape
7 years ago
Paul: There is a long list of construction "no-no's" going on here. The biggest thing is that you have pavers on top of a concrete landing and the other steps built on a gravel footing. The concrete landing is probably pinned into the foundation so you have one inflexible system and one flexible system.

In addition to being a poorly conceived idea, the construction is just terrible.

Stairs are always more expensive to do than most homeowners realize. If you can afford it, I would call a landscape contractor who clearly has step construction as part of his portfolio. There is no quick fix to what you are showing in your picture.

Depending on where you live you could try any number of manufacturer websites such as Unilock, Belgard, Rochester or Techo-Bloc. Or you could simply call a concrete contractor who could remove what you have and pour you a new landing and steps, which might be the most economical and practical.

Good luck with your stairs!
Naperville Brick Patio · More Info
Here is a flexible system staircase as it should look.
littlebug zone 5 Missouri
7 years ago
I agree - no easy fix. This is a tear-out job.
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paulsiu
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks for the explanation, the steps came with the house. It looked ok when I purchased the house. Not so good a few years later. I have asked a few people to look at it, but most of them thought it was OK design, but I had my suspicions. You two are the first people who said otherwise, though I think you are probably correct.

So the issue is that paver and concrete landing do not mix. Because one is inflexible and the other is flexible, the construction eventually comes apart?

I am thinking that the previous owner had a concrete landing for steps and then decided to redo the patio with pavers (I can't tell what was there before, every neighbor seemed to have redone their porch, and added some brick steps to match. Instead of demolishing the steps and then creating a new one by laying down pavers, they simply put pavers around the existing steps, resulting in this horror? How would a proper step be constructed? I imagine you would step with no concrete steps and build the steps with layers of pavers?

What would be the rough ballpark cost of redoing this as a paver step vs pouring out another concrete step by a contractor (is this a $1K, $5k, $10K, etc)? I am mostly interested so I can budget the money for the future project?

Paul
PRO
KD Landscape
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Sequestered · More Info

Traditional Landscape · More Info
Paul: See above. Regardless of manufacturer the first pic represents a pretty fair version of what you should see during construction and the second picture is of course the final result. You might consider something like this with small wing walls instead of stepping off in all directions.

Access always plays a part in the pricing but I would venture to say that based on what I see in your photo it's probably in the 6-7K neighborhood. If you rebuild with a paver step system the existing concrete pad (if there is one) gets removed about 90% of the time.

Three keys to success with a modular (flexible) system:

A. good compaction.

B. an experienced crew.

C. the best contractor you can afford

Again, good luck with your project.
Sal Fichera
2 years ago
Would it be possible to add wood steps over these existung pacer steps? could that be a less expensive iption?

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