Concrete Steps

notuseless

Hey all,
The concrete steps that lead from my back door have been falling apart for a while now but I've decided to do something about it. Today i pulled all the loose stuff and stuff that was holding loose pieces and found that there's a large chasm inside the steps.
Now one - are they repairable,
two - by me or by a pro,
three - should that empty space be filled with a foam insulation or something to just pack it?

Not a big concrete person so pardon my ignorance.

Rich

p.s. the step is not crooked, i guess i just take artsy pics

Attached Images

   

Just Bill

Also not a concrete expert, but I would guess that this is repairable. Make sure you have all the loose stuff off. Mortar mix or sacrete with small aggregate would be best., mix the fairly dry. Use a bonding agent(find at lumberyards, home, hardware stores), push it in as tightly as possible with whatever tools you can find. If it is a fairly dry mix, you should be able to do a finish smoothing without forms. Using a faster setting cement might also help. If it tends to slump out, brace a wide board against it until it sets, then finish smooth it. Don't overwork it too much.

notuseless

Would throwing chunks of brick in the empty space be a bad thing? As the bags of cement patch i've seen seem to be pretty small. I'm meaning just in the hollow of the cement block to give it a big of resistance.

jimmy21

i would fill that void with concrete, it would make your patch much more perminent if it went back in there.

1. clean everything thoroughly. Make sure there is no dirt/dust/ concrete fragments on anything

2. paint on a bonding agent onto all surfaces you can

3. build a shoot of some sort, so you can get the concrete to slide back in there
4. mix concrete and pour. Put a stick in there and jab the concrete around, so it flows everywhere
5. try your best to finish the visible spot. it may want to ooze out, but just do your best, you may need to let it harden for an hour, then add more, and keep repeating. The more you play with it, the more liquidy it will become, so sometimes its best to back off for an hour

21boat

Hi notuseless,,

I'm a General contracotor..

What you have there is a concrete poured over hollow block cores.

Remove all loose material on the side. Don't be afraid to tap with a hammer to check for areas that may give way later. The main prep objective is NO loose substraignt..

The first goal is to get some Mortar NOT concrete and lay in some chunks of block, brick, or even stones broken up. Mix mortar very Pasty like thick peanut butter. lay/mortar in those voids with chunks to produce a fairly flat vertical surface. Now that gets us to a solid sub-straight but its not "tight" enough to endure the weather. Use a this product :

Thoroseal Cement Based Waterproofing for Concrete

http://www.chargar.com/Products/prod_ma.html

General Directions:

http://www.thoroproducts.com/pdf_app..._thoroseal.pdf

This will Waterproof the the whole side to protect the existing Concrete as well as the patch and give you a more finish off look.

SPS-1

Have the board, and a plan on how you are going to hod the board, ready. The concrete will want to slump out.