I got some rebar in today. I used some anchoring adhesive to anchor them in the foundation. That stuff is pretty good. A couple hours later and I can't pull them out with all my weight.
I got all the rebar in place at the front of each step too, so I don't have to worry about placing it when I pour. I was also careful to keep the rebar at least a couple inches away from the edges.
I'm still planning to put a bunch more gravel in the corner, which is why I didn't put any rebar there.
The picture makes it look like it angles out a bit, but all the riser forms are exactly the same length. I've done a ton of measuring and adjusting, and I'll probably do some more today.
The wood isn't the best. It's been sitting there for a couple months in the rain and such, so it's probably a bit warped in certain spots. I know I know, but when you have three kids under 5, you front steps aren't the priority. But it is now 'cause I have to get this done before winter or else I'm starting all over.
That's one reason I want to take the side form off before everything sets completely and touch it up. Doesn't have to be perfect, just as long as not one looks at it and goes "oh god!"
The risers can be the same length and the form could still be crooked. It's like how a trapezoid can have identical sides and yet still be crooked. Do you have a square you can put on one of the risers and the side form and check for square?
So I did some measuring. I couldn't find my square in my mess of a garage (that's the other thing I want to get done before winter - park our van in the garage). So I did the diagonal measurements. The diagonal was off, but only by a quarter inch.
But when I looked closer, the top of that plywood has bowed out at the top a bit. So it's just the top that's out of line, not down near the bottom where the steps are.
What probably caused that (on top of the rain) was that the first riser was a bit too long (eighth of an inch maybe). So I took that off and trimmed it, and put a longer 2x4 for support on the outside.
Still to do: •More gravel (I need to get the dirt out of what I have first - I have an idea for that) •Put the curved MDF into the bottom step •More support!
Then tomorrow we pour! Weather Network says 0% chance of rain. Those are pretty good odds.
Nice. If you have a just little tilt away from the house or if the steps are level, that is fine. You don't want puddling on the inside corners of the steps. I would be more concerned with level than square. That is, if the foundation is a little out of square, you don't need to be at right angles to that.
Yes, I did make sure the steps tilt away from the foundation. Actually, the porch itself is tilted slightly away from the house (the bubble on my level is about 1/4 past the line), so I just made the steps match the porch.
And yeah, the foundation is definitely out of square. That's probably contributing to things looking a tad off too.
You need to find somebody who can build a proper form, and get a ready-mix concrete outfit that can provide a 3/8 to 3/4 inch pea stone ready-mix with at least a 5000 lb sf mix for a good finish. Your form is drastically under built. It will be a disaster in the making! A one faced form is the most likely candidate for a blowout. IMO you are asking for trouble. I am not an expert in formwork, but I can honestly say that you are heading for trouble. Do yourself a favor, and get a competent form guy to build what you want, and have them pour, and finish it. You will be way ahead in the long run.In my 25 years of being around formwork in construction I have more than my fair share of people having issues when trying to save a buck, and it ended up costing them far more when things go bump in the night. Good Luck!
Will you cover the top of the steps as well when pouring, or will the concrete not seek it's own level and overflow the lower steps before the concrete reaches the level of the highest one?
Will you cover the top of the steps as well when pouring, or will the concrete not seek it's own level and overflow the lower steps before the concrete reaches the level of the highest one?
From what I've read, it'll only do that if the concrete is super runny. That's one of the risks I'm going to keep an eye open for, since I'm using a plasticizer that will increase the slump. I don't think it'll get that runny, but I've never used this stuff before. Worst case, I wait in between steps for the plasticizer to wear off before starting the next step.
I've never seen this done, but I can't imagine that the semi-liquid concrete would NOT seek its own level and just mush out of the top of the lower steps as you pour the upper part full.
Eventually, yes. I want to change the whole railing on the porch at some point, so I didn't want to put a permanent railing in with the pour. I'll probably attach something to the inside of the steps (to the porch railing) for the short term.
It was a long day, but everything went well. There were a few things I'd do differently if I did it again, but nothing catastrophic.
I cleaned up a bunch of gravel by throwing the gravel into my cement mixer with water. It worked quite well. It took a few loads of that to fill the corner of the steps. But I got a lot in there.
I also added plenty of more support. Looks a bit ridiculous, as promised, but it held! And that's all that matters.
We used 24 bags of concrete: 23 for the steps, and one partial bag (sifted) for the patch work.
We got all the pouring done by about 5:00. We took the risers off around 7:00. Then we got the rest of the forms off around 10:00. There were lots of air pockets, so we had to lots of touch ups. That lasted till about 12:30. What a long day. But it's done!
I gave it a misting with water before bed and covered it with a tarp. I'll leave it covered and wet till probably Friday I think.
Would I do it again? Absolutely. I found the work fascinating, and I learned a lot.
Things I'd do differently next time:
The form: Obviously the form is not a work of art. It could have been a ton simpler. I had used two pieces of plywood for the side, simply because that's all I had and the day I did it I was home alone with the kids and the baby was napping (which is why I was able to work!) so I couldn't go to the store. That joint was just something I had to reinforce more, as you can see in the picture. Also, looking carefully from afar, it looks like the bottom step is on more of a slant than the rest of the steps. I'll have to be more careful with my levelling next time.
The mix: We had a bit of trouble getting the mix to be consistent. The manufacturer's directions for the concrete said 2.5 quarts per bag, but that looked waaaaaayyyyyy to dry, even after adding the plasticizer. We did figure out, though, that we had to let it mix longer after we added the plasticizer for the plasticizer to take effect. We had a few mixes that were less than perfect. The rounded part of the bottom step had some of the drier concrete, which made finishing a bit more difficult. But spraying a small amount of water on the top, along with sand/cement mix made that work out. I'm not convinced it would be worth bothering to measure next time. Almost every mix we used a different amount of water because it just didn't look right.
Buy a bag of sand/cement mix: I figured I'd just sift some sand/cement out of the bags of concrete I had, which I did. But I didn't think I'd need so much. Because of my mixture issues (I think that's why anyway), there were lots of air pockets on the sides that needed filling in. Sifting that much was a pain. Fortunately, since we patched it only a few hours after pouring, it should look good in the end.
Wait longer before removing riser forms: I got a little antsy and I removed the form from the second step a bit too early at first: probably about 45 minutes after pouring. It held it shape, mostly, but the corner sagged a little bit. I put the riser back on, but I probably could have pushed it back into place better. That corner stayed about a 1/4 inch lower than it should be. You can't tell unless you're staring at it though. It's not a big deal, just something to avoid next time. I did learn that the concrete remains malleable for quite a long time, so there's no super rush to do the finishing.
It looks very good especially considering it's the 1st time you've done anything like this! Be careful though for all of your friends will ask you to help them do theirs.
I have done a lot of Farm pouring in the past using an electric mixer to do slabs and more. Also did many friends' places for slabs for hot tubs and such. Used my Bobcat to excavate and then backfill with gravel before pouring, after allowing for settling.
On my "mix", had 2 gravel/cement plants nearby and would buy the aggregate and sand premixed by the dump truck load, ~12yds at a time. Then would buy cement in 80# bags.
Using coffee cans and plastic 5 gallon buckets, developed a "recipe" between the 3 ingredients. Did have to adjust it at times, if the pile of aggregate was a little wet from rain.
Keep your "recipe" in a good place, I mis-placed mine.
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