How do I fix these steps?

Normally we go in and out of our house through the back door. In the past couple winters the path leading to them has become a steep icy slope so with my wife's balance being poor we started using the front door which has a dirt path that becomes mud and these lovely steps to the driveway. I plan on putting down pavers to the house to take care of the muddy path but I need to level out the steps. I imagine the right way would be to break them up and have new ones poured but I am cheap and lazy right now. Until I have the time and money to get them done right would it be possible to just add a couple inches of concrete to the top of them to level them off and make the height between them uniform? I eventually plan to have it done properly but need to buy myself a couple years to get some other problems sorted out.

Any "overlay" you do on top of the existing steps will be disappointing and pretty labor intensive. Your best bet will be to tear them out and replace the steps. sorry

And FYI, I've patched several concrete slabs and steps where I work with the best available and very expensive "fixes". None have been worth the effort.

You might try searching 'mudjacking' concrete slabs. It ain't cheap, but might be less than replacement. Although maybe not.

Mudjacking

That's an awfully easy, DIY friendly repair.

Mud jacking would be crazy.

If you sledge hammer it out and pour a new step, it will take you the better part of a Saturday.

If you patch on top of existing, it will take you the better part of a Saturday. Plus, another Saturday in a month or two breaking it out and doing it right.

In reply to SVreX:

I could easily turn that Saturday into a three day cuss fest. Lol.

Nick_Comstock wrote: In reply to SVreX: I could easily turn that Saturday into a three day cuss fest. Lol.

But it would be done! And done right!

Or bluestone. This Old House always uses bluestone. They never discuss budgets.

I got the pleasure of pulling up an already-failed mudjacked patio at my house.

There is a special place in hell for the mudjackers. Fix it right.

You are missing out on a fantastic opportunity to try dynamite.

SVreX wrote: That's an awfully easy, DIY friendly repair. Mud jacking would be crazy. If you sledge hammer it out and pour a new step, it will take you the better part of a Saturday. If you patch on top of existing, it will take you the better part of a Saturday. Plus, another Saturday in a month or two breaking it out and doing it right.

This. Rent an electric jackhammer for under a benjamin a day. Crush it up, level it out, and form something up that meets your grades. In bits that small you should even be able to put a decent finish on the concrete yourself, or you can have somebody do that.

I would build a pressure treated deck over each step. the second one in the pic looks the worst. If you have a table saw, it would be easy to make some angled shims that you can attach with ReHead masonary anchors to the concrete. Then nail the 5/4 deck boards to that. Then taking measurments off of that, build the other steps so they are all the proper height. You are not supporting any weight, you just need to keep the wood step covers fom moving. that should buy you a few years.

Or just add a hand rail to both sides to keep from slipping on the ice.

Buy a case of Mtn Dew, a couple sledge hammers and bribe the teenage boys in the neighborhood for an afternoon of destruction?

How about wooden steps over them? Although dynamite sounds like more fun.

You could dig around the current steps and then place the wooden steps over them.

Even if the wooden steps shift you could lift and level them again.

On edit: looks like a similar suggestion was made while I typed.

I don't mean to sound negative (and I'm not sure how you'll handle the ice), but do you foresee yourself needing a ramp at some point in the future? If so, this might be the time to get that done.

Sort of looks to me like a set of steps to nowhere given that there is no paved path after the steps.
Given your wife's health issues, is there any ADA type of financial/physical help available?

Find an Eagle Scout who needs a community project.

Rusnak_322 wrote: I would build a pressure treated deck over each step. the second one in the pic looks the worst. If you have a table saw, it would be easy to make some angled shims that you can attach with ReHead masonary anchors to the concrete. Then nail the 5/4 deck boards to that. Then taking measurments off of that, build the other steps so they are all the proper height. You are not supporting any weight, you just need to keep the wood step covers fom moving. that should buy you a few years. Or just add a hand rail to both sides to keep from slipping on the ice.

That is the sort if thing I was thinking. I can do wood. All my concrete work has been poor at best and I don't think steps are a project I could do myself. There doesn't seem to be a need for a ramp in the near future and if/when the time comes she will stop the stubborn need to trudge off through the snow to work every day. For now she insists on going in every day all winter so I want to make getting to and from the car a bit safer than it now as she is not as steady walking as she wants to believe particularly in the cold weather. What really needs to be done at some point is bring in a few dozen truck loads of dirt and regrade the property so everything stops washing away and surrounding the house with ice all winter but that has to be put off for a little while.

Datsun1500 wrote: I thought this was GRM.... You guys are overlooking the easy, cheap fix. Find 2 scissor jacks from a junkyard. Dig a hole under the lower side big enough to slide the jack in. Crank up step to level. Bury jack. When it settles, find jack and crank again. shove und

Buy a couple bags of quikrete and shovel under slab. When it hardens you are done for a couple of years . I have done similar with a long pipe to lever and some rocks to shim.

TRoglodyte wrote:

Datsun1500 wrote: I thought this was GRM.... You guys are overlooking the easy, cheap fix. Find 2 scissor jacks from a junkyard. Dig a hole under the lower side big enough to slide the jack in. Crank up step to level. Bury jack. When it settles, find jack and crank again. shove und

Buy a couple bags of quikrete and shovel under slab. When it hardens you are done for a couple of years . I have done similar with a long pipe to lever and some rocks to shim.

I was headed this way and see that someone beat me to it. Assuming that the three steps are separate entities. I would jack the low side up and toss some chips and dust or whatever stable fill you have and call it a day.

To resurface, I would buy some expanded steel mesh with the serrated surface for traction. Screw them into place. Shim them off the surface so that snow does not build up underneath and salt/water can run off.

What about just adding a handrail? Put it on the low side, use cheap threaded pipe, give her something to lean against?

What are most of you talking about? Isn't the cheap and easy way to dug out around the steps and re-level them with some sand or stone or quicrete. Use a bottle jack or hi-lift jack, I'd prefer the latter, and back fill. I'd go a bit past level because it'll settle back down.

RossD wrote: What are most of you talking about? Isn't the cheap and easy way to dug out around the steps and re-level them with some sand or stone or quicrete. Use a bottle jack or hi-lift jack, I'd prefer the latter, and back fill. I'd go a bit past level because it'll settle back down.

It will be cheap, but not easy. Chances are, there will be rocks and gravel sub layer. Plus the dirt is obviously not all that firm as it is settling. You will have to dig a large area and then use something strong like a steel plate to spread the load of the jack out so that it doesn't push down into the dirt. Then do it twice more for other steps.

At the end of all that work you have some level, but not particularly attractive looking, cement steps.

Mudjacking can work well. We did it for the sidewalk at my parent's house years ago, it was quick and relatively inexpensive, and the repair lasted.

Having said that, the steps in the photo appear to have been heaved up instead of sinking. Some digging under the high side with a shovel will probably solve the issue.

I'd hammer it all out and do it again. It'll cost about as much as getting them "fixed"..

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: I'd hammer it all out and do it again. It'll cost about as much as getting them "fixed"..

I agree. I found if you get a pry bar underneath and lift with leverage a good solid wack with a hammer will break it up.

We mixed 75 bags in wheelbarrows by hand once for my in laws side walk - 2 bags in the smaller barrow and 3 bags in the larger one. The hardest problem was getting enough bags home in our cars.

Get your forms set, get some rebar mat... Order a half a truck... Boom. Done.

Wood is a bad idea.

You can't add a wood layer without increasing the riser and creating a trip hazard at both the top and bottom.

For example, if you overlayed with 5/4 deck boards (the thinnest I would use), the lowest riser will increase by an inch. If it used to be 6", it will be 7".

At the top, the 1" would be too high, and need to be regrade to meet. That would leave the wood buried, and it will deteriorate quickly.

As a reference point, the building code only allows 3/16" variation in a single riser 1" is a LOT.

If your wife is struggling with health issues, a 1" stair riser variation will almost certainly lead to a fall one day. That would be hard for a me bodied individuals to navigate.

Suck it up concrete is the answer.