How To Repair Concrete Porch Steps

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Concrete steps are exposed to the elements every day. After time, the steps tin crack or begin to intermission apart. Cracked steps pose a potential safety take a chance to people entering or leaving your abode and must be repaired. Use these instructions to repair concrete steps.

Steps

1. 1

   Clean the damaged portion of the concrete pace. Remove all loose gravel, sand, dirt, and cement with a clean, stiff wire castor. You tin besides tap lightly with a hammer or utilize a hammer and chisel.^[i]

2. 2

   Make a form. Screw 2 short pieces of 1 inch by six inch (ii.54 cm past 15.24 cm) lumber together at a 90-caste angle to form an "L" shape.^[2]

   • The form can also exist held together using several long pieces of duct record.

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3. 3

   Marshal the wood class. Place the woods course against the damaged corner of the physical stride then it is flush with the top of the step. Tape the form to the step firmly with duct tape.^[3]

4. 4

   Lubricate the grade. Spray a coat of cooking oil spray on the inside of the wood form to prevent the wood from sticking to the new concrete.

5. 5

   Employ bonding liquid. Utilize a paint castor to apply a thick coat of latex bonding liquid on the damaged portion of the concrete step were you will be applying the new concrete.^[iv]

6. 6

   Prepare quick-setting cement. Mix a small corporeality of quick-setting cement in a plastic bucket according to the instructions on the packaging. Do not use pre-mixed vinyl cement repair considering information technology shrinks and will non hold weight. These vinyl fillers are best used to fill up holes in stucco walls where no one is walking over them. "Cement-all", that is $22 per handbag, does not need a bonding agent, and can exist driven over in sixty minutes with an motorcar.

7. vii

   Dampen the area. Moisten the expanse where you lot are going to be adding the new cement then that the existing concrete will not draw the moisture out of the wet cement, making it less likely to harden properly.

8. 8

   Utilize the cement. Utilise a pointed trowel to scoop the cement onto the damaged portion of the step and printing information technology into the wood grade. Overfill the woods form slightly.

9. 9

   Smoothen the newly laid cement. Use the flat side of the trowel to polish the cement then it is flush with the remaining portion of the step. Don't be afraid to utilize pressure. Pressure will fill holes and make it more level.

10. 10

    Permit the concrete to dry overnight.

11. 11

    Remove the duct tape and the woods form.

12. 12

    Keep the cement moist. Use a spray canteen to moisten the new physical patch ii or iii times a twenty-four hour period for three days. Then moisten the patch twice daily for a week.

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• Question

  Does an external repair demand to be covered to protect it from the rain?

  

  Yes, encompass the cement with plastic or plywood. If you lot use fast drying cement, it will not demand to be covered considering nigh fast drying cements cure inside 1 hour.

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• The wet cement mixture should hold together in a clump when y'all squeeze a handful. If the cement mixture crumbles, add more water. If it drips, add more than dry concrete mix.

• You may demand to remove whatever additional loose cement in the damaged surface area using a hand sledgehammer. Unless all the damaged cement is removed, you'll probably need to redo the repair as the new patch may be unstable.

• It is important to keep the new cement patch moist for at to the lowest degree the first calendar week afterward making the repair. Maintaining a sufficient moisture level is necessary for the new concrete to cure and harden properly.

• If you lot use a bag of "cement all", which costs 6 times more than concrete, yous can repair the confront of a step with a flat trowel in twenty minutes (cement all hardens in 10 minutes), and so apply another mix to the top of the step in another twenty minutes. In an hour yous can repair a pace. "Cement All" sticks to make clean cement and will not come off. This way you do non accept to create wood forms nor await hours for it to harden.

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Things You'll Need

• Wire brush
• 1-inch past vi-inch (2.54 cm by 15.24 cm) lumber
• Duct record
• Drill and screws (optional)
• Cooking oil spray
• Latex bonding liquid
• Quick-setting cement
• Plastic bucket
• Plastic spray bottle
• Hand sledgehammer, if needed
• Trowel

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