front porch help-old concrete steps

5 years ago

We bought a house and want to fix the front porch steps a bit. How can we fix those cracks where the post goes into step and the cracks between the two steps. Anything DIY before we spend money having all new concrete poured!! Thanks!

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Comments (3)

User
5 years ago
Replace the railing baseplate with a larger one. Anchor in clean concrete.

There are concrete repair products available for cracks. Cracks will continue if the conditions causing the movement continue, often caused by wet/dirt adjacent soil. There bondo like products to cosmetically fix the corner.

I recommend a DIY porch tile project. Cover the existing porch with tile or pavers, figure a work around the threshold. Change railing or just add to the base plate.
graywings123
5 years ago
I have not used this, but Abatron makes great products:
Abocrete
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Are you putting stone or brick on top of the concrete on the porch? If so that could account for the extra height that is there now and when the stone or brick is down it will be shorter.
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brutuses, I'm just realizing that les917 also said "the full width of the porch." It didn't sink until you wrote the same thing! Wow, I never even thought of extending the step out along the entire porch because of the boxwoods (which are trying to hide the exposed foundation). I figured the step would just lead to the door, but I can see how a full length step would leave lots of room for sitting! Would you run the walkway just straight up to the step, but have the step run the entire length of the foundation? There are a lot of homes like ours in our subdivision and everyone has the same walkup, so it's hard to visualize. Plus I've only had one cup of coffee! I really appreciate the new ideas!
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One option would be to set exterior grade porcelain tile on the horizontal planes-- steps and landing-- and apply a complimentary color concrete stain to the verticals. By applying a base color of stain and then ragging on a slightly lighter or darker second color, you can give the risers visual interest and depth of color. As regards the railing-- If the bolts are rusted or the posts are set into the concrete, cut off the wrought iron with a reciprocating saw and grind what remains til it's flush with the concrete. Drill the concrete with a masonry bit to set anchors with either mortar or epoxy for the new wood railings. Hope this helps.
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hey... moving along with all the projects ... same as always... foundation planting are planted to hide the foundation ... NOT ON THE FOUNDATION ... to get the height you need.. and to be planted the proper distance from the house/stairs.. you need to come out into the lawn ... and plant a nice shrub that will mature at the 5 foot level ... and make your perspective from the street ... where the pic was taken .. not standing up close ... at one vantage point you need a 3 footer.. at the closer range.. you might need 5 or 6.. and that wont look good ... ken
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PRO
Yardvaark
5 years ago
I would not waste effort into tiling the porch. Within a short period of time, tile would start coming loose and off, making it look much worse. (There is a recent thread with this exact problem.) Wherever a crack is in the porch now, it would migrate through the tile. The bullnose corner could not be tiled.

Patching in the broken part that holds the railing post, or using a larger base plate is not going to hold. If you added tread depth on to the bottom step such that the area that held the railing is surrounded by additional concrete, and patched the broken part in the process, it would hold longer. But truthfully, all you can do with this is put band-aids on it. The permanent solution is demolish and rebuild. If you do that, first explore the landing and walk to see what associated parts should be reconfigured in the process.

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front porch help-old concrete steps

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graywings123

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