Ogden Dunes Indiana Concrete Steps on Sloped Lots

The damage shows up in late winter, once the ice on the treads finally lets go. But you notice it on the walk down, when the nosing is pitted. Or a corner has popped clean off. Concrete Steps in Ogden Dunes, Indiana sit on a grade from the road up to the house. So meltwater runs the flight and freezes again on a flat tread that night.

After a hard freeze, people have called about the same flight they used all year. The bottom steps take the splash from the street. Because the lot climbs, the top steps take runoff from the yard and the upper walk. Then every thaw sends water down that same path. Salt on the treads makes the scaling worse. We’ve pulled chunks off steps that looked solid in November.

Ogden Dunes lots sit on sand, close to the lake. After a lake-effect week, the treads can ice again before they dry. We’ve dug out old steps and found the base washed thin under the bottom landing. The sand under it was loose enough to move by hand. The flight rocked on the lowest tread. So we don’t patch a step that has lost its bearing.

Concrete Steps in Ogden Dunes After the Thaw

A finished flight should look solid from the street. So we want a straight nosing and a tread that sheds water. When the old steps have spalled, a skim coat won’t hold. The salt and the next freeze pop that thin layer right back off. Then those holes are still there in spring.

We talk through tear out and replace when the concrete sounds hollow. We’ve seen the joint at the house open on flights like these. For example, a hairline at the stoop in fall has opened wide by March. That gap lets water in behind the top riser.

Grade from the street to the house is why these flights fail the way they do. Water runs that path, and it freezes in the pores. People have called after a lake-effect week, when the treads stayed icy. But on a sloped lot the side yards matter too. We’ve seen the edge of a tread break where yard runoff crossed it all winter.

Rebuilding Concrete Steps in Ogden Dunes on a Grade

We form new Concrete Steps in Ogden Dunes to match that climb. The flight ties into your service walk and the upper walk or the stoop. Because the lot fixes the run, we lay out the risers first. Our exterior concrete steps page shows the kind of work this is.

For example, a downspout at the top landing will feed the whole flight all winter. We move that water off to the side when we rebuild. Or we note it on the quote so you can fix the gutter first. You can look through our photo gallery at other exterior flights we’ve finished.

The visit often covers more than the flight. Because upper walks and service walks crack at the same joint, we price tear out and replace for them. Concrete removal comes first. After that, we haul the old steps off and set a base on the sand. Then we pour back when the weather allows.

Cabe’s Concrete is a family owned and operated company, and we’ve poured in northwest Indiana since 2006. We write the quote out line by line. So you can see the steps and the removal as separate lines. We don’t inflate the price of the concrete to make a few extra dollars.

We’ve rebuilt Concrete Steps in Ogden Dunes where the street sits well below the front door. Some lots need a landing partway up. So that landing gets the same pitch as the treads.

A door that doesn’t face the street may need a short turn at that landing. We set that turn into the layout for Concrete Steps in Ogden Dunes before the concrete shows up. After we strip the forms, we check the nosings with a straightedge before we leave the site.