Comment by stolk
8 years ago
It sounds like it would be far easier to pour concrete steps instead? Gravity will take care of making each step perfectly horizontal, at least.
8 years ago
It sounds like it would be far easier to pour concrete steps instead? Gravity will take care of making each step perfectly horizontal, at least.
Making either perfectly horizontal isn't even the hard part, but concrete steps take a LOT longer, if you can believe it. You have to build a wooden box to pour into, and you can only pour once (new concrete does NOT stick to dry concrete).
I did a concrete landing for these steps, which wasn't too bad, but my next door had his front steps re-poured by actual professionals, and it took them like 2 weeks.
Compare that to mine, which while a pain in the ass really only took about 20 hours total, and I made 7 "stringers" instead of the usual 2 or 3 (I used composite decking on the stairs, which requires support every 9-11 inches) which made it a lot harder (and heavier).
And of course, concrete steps really only look right when they go right up to the house, they don't look right attached to a deck, and they certainly aren't something you want IN your house.