Steps fail at the base, so that is where the job starts.
Front steps are the piece of concrete every visitor touches and the piece most likely to hurt somebody. They are also the one people put off longest, because a wobbly step is survivable in a way that a failed driveway is not.
We pour steps, landings, ramps and the walkways that run to them cast in place: one monolithic pour, formed to code geometry, tied properly to the ground rather than balanced on it.
Precast units and stacked block steps are separate pieces sitting on a base. When the base moves, and it does, they work loose from each other, the mortar joints open, and you get the rocking step everybody has been meaning to deal with for three years.
A cast-in-place set of steps is one piece of reinforced concrete. There are no joints between the risers to open up because there are no separate risers.
Consistent rise and run is a building code requirement and it is also the single biggest safety factor on a set of stairs. People climb stairs by feel, not by looking, and the brain builds a model of the step height off the first two. One riser that is fifteen millimetres different from the others is what catches somebody.
We form to consistent geometry, which sounds obvious and is exactly what gets fudged when a crew is working to an existing landing that was never level to begin with.
Steps have to meet the house, but they should not be rigidly bonded to it, because the house and the steps sit on different things and move differently. Bond them hard together and one of them cracks.
The right detail is a proper expansion joint at the house, footings under the steps that get down where they need to be, and a landing pitched very slightly away so water runs off rather than sitting against the door sill.
A walkway is flatwork and lives or dies on base and joints like any other slab. Where it matters more than a driveway is pitch, because a walkway that pitches toward the house is delivering water to your foundation every time it rains.
Ramps are increasingly what we get asked for. A cast-in-place ramp with a broom finish, the right slope and a level landing at the top is a straightforward pour and it is the difference between somebody being able to get into their own house or not. We have poured several this season.
A number off a website is a guess, and guesses turn into surprises on the invoice. Every job is priced to what is actually in front of us. These are the things that move it:
The site visit is free. The quote comes back itemized, with the HST and the total including HST shown, inside 48 hours. What you sign is what you pay.
If the base has failed, and that is the usual cause, a repair is cosmetic and temporary. If the concrete is sound and the problem is surface spalling from road salt, that is a different and smaller job. We will walk it with you and tell you which one you have. If a repair genuinely solves it, we will say so.
Most are two to four days on site including demolition. Full use inside a week.
We can set the anchors or core for a railing as part of the pour, which is much cleaner than drilling into finished concrete later. Tell us at the site visit what railing you are planning and we will build for it.
Yes. Cast-in-place ramp, broom finish for grip, formed to the slope the job needs with a level landing at the top. We have done several this season.
Real jobs, real photos. Nothing on this page is a render.
Selling the house, or clearing one out. If your project touches either, you are already in the right place.
Buying, selling or listing in Kitchener-Waterloo. Our real estate partner for clients moving into or out of a property we are working on.
Visit→Downsizing, senior moves and full-home clear-outs across Kitchener-Waterloo. Part of the same group as Ironground.
Visit→Tell Colin what you’re building. Photos help but aren’t required. Even just the basics is enough to get started. Colin sends your quote within 24 hours.
