It is the screen slider that threw me off. I first thought it was all a slider. When you said it was french doors, It appeared to be on the outside of the door frame which would not open inward and the handle is on the left. So from the outside, it is effectively a slider on the left side as I thought. The part that is no good is the fact that it puts the user walking out along the face of the house wall whether it is a french door, slider, dutch door, or conventional pass door. That is compounded by the cellar window. If budget is not a big issue, I'd change the door. It would be an issue for me, so I don't blame you for sticking to it (but it is poor building design). The sensible solution, barring changes to the door, is to build a wood landing the full width of the wall with the door on it. Then have the steps coming down off of that onto a conventional patio layout away from the house. There are many good ways to do that. Put in two standard metal window wells so that you can fill to proper grade for your slab. Keep a planting bed between the slab and the house where there is no landing. You may as well have the concrete guy waste his extra mix in the area that will be covered by the landing (what they call a dust cover). That will keep burrowing varmints from taking up residence (see that that also pitches the water away). The dust cover does not need any fancy finish, so should not cost very much at all. As long as you resign the idea of keeping both windows open to daylight this is a very standard wood frame step and patio.

In cold weather, accelerants (not catalysts) are often added to the mix to speed the hardening process. The most common additive, though often avoided due to its reaction with reinforcing steel, is calcium chloride. It can create discolouration in the concrete, as can other accelerants and materials, even plastics and blankets used to keep the freshly poured mix warm. Unless appearance is a factor, such as in driveways or where the surface is left exposed in modern architecture, discolouration is of no consequence.

Cheril and Roseabbey: Thanks for the pictures. Both your doors look terrific as well. Sue36 and oceanna: We don't have to leave the door open but wanted to have it more open to the finished basement so it feels part of the living space, especially when folks are actually down there. jlc712: We thought the same thing about having the door swing in, but it is indeed against code to have a door open over a staircase. We went online last night and found a nice split french door available special order from Home Depot. We are going to take our measurements in and see if it may work. Then the open door would still block the hallway but not as much. We are still weighing our options but I think we are leaning towards keeping a glass door on versus taking the doorframe out and just wrapping with drywall. Most of the open staircases are wider and our's is just a normal 32 inch door opening. Again everyone's input has been so helpful.

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