Here are two shots of our front steps that were taken last week:
Obviously the state of these made us the laughing stock of the neighborhood. They had been progressively deteriorating for years and my attempts to fix them 5 (!) years ago were to no avail.
It was time to call the professionals!
Finding someone was much easier said than done but eventually I did, and three days ago work began. The first step was to remove the coating to reveal the concrete underneath:
This took 2 guys almost 7 hours using a jackhammer and grinder. They would relate to me how unexpectedly difficult it was since the stairs had multiple different cement and plaster coats. Here’s how they looked after the first day:
You can see they still had a little bit of work to do. The next day I myself was at work for most of the day, and when I got home I found this:
Mysterious! The plastic is protecting the new stamped ‘thincrete’ coating. It is a super strong reinforced concrete which is textured to look like flagstone. Here’s what it looked like early today:
The next step was grinding the fake stone edges, and smoothing some hard corners. Then a stain was applied to enhance texture. After several more hours the steps were sealed and work was complete:
Here’s a close-up to show texture:
In about 24 hours the stain and sealant will be completely dry, and I’m told we’ll have steps that should outlast the house!
Next year we’ll do some plantings (I removed a lot to facilitate the work) and it should all look great. I’m glad I finally got my act together and had this much-needed work done 🙂
Looks even better than I expected!
BTW It’s not at all too late to plant some new perennials or small shrubs. At this time of year the soil is nice and warm so new plantings will settle in and spread their roots well before cold weather.
It looks really good. You should get the entire house clad in ‘thincrete’.