Concrete steps construction in Peoria IL - a front entry that stays level

Most folks call me once the old steps have cracked, started leaning or pulled away from the door, and the first thing they want to know is whether they're stuck replacing the whole set. The price moves with how many steps you need, precast or poured, whether we're breaking out old concrete first and how much digging the footing takes. The schedule turns mostly on the type you pick, the weather and what the city needs before we start. If the steps land on a walk that's in rough shape too, we can look at concrete sidewalk building on the same visit. I'll go over all of it on site and give you an estimate with your own number on it.

I'll start by telling you honestly whether your steps can be repaired or are better torn out, because some just need attention and I'd rather say so than sell you a new set. If they need replacing, we go over precast and poured together so you can pick what fits your doorway. Then our crew breaks out the old steps, digs out and packs the base, and digs the footing for steps tied to the house. From there we either set the precast unit on its pad, or we build forms, lay in rebar, the steel that holds the concrete together if it cracks, and pour. Poured steps get a broom finish, a brushed texture that gives your shoes grip when it's wet, and then they cure, which is the wait while the concrete gains strength before anyone stands on it. The base is the part you'll never see and the first thing people want to trim from the budget, and I won't trim it, because a pretty finish on a sinking base is still a sinking set of steps.

Steps often come up as part of bigger work. On an addition or a new house, the entry steps usually follow slab foundation building or foundation installation, and planning them together means the door height and the footing get settled once instead of guessed at later.

The city's design rules set the minimum footing depth for frost at 36 inches, and that's a number worth bringing up with anyone who quotes your steps. Steps attached to a house usually need footings, the buried base they rest on, below that frost line, because ground that freezes and thaws lifts and drops anything sitting shallow, and that's how steps end up leaning or pulling away from the door. So for attached steps we dig the footing past that depth before any concrete goes in. The city also rates concrete weathering here as severe, which means the surface takes a real beating every winter and looking after your steps counts for more here than it would somewhere milder.

Permits for work in the City of Peoria come from the Development Center at City Hall, and that's the place to ask what your steps need. Before we schedule, we handle the permit paperwork when it's ours to file and tell you plainly if anything falls on your end. We're based in Peoria and work across the cities around it, out toward Bloomington and Normal, and we see the same hard winters on steps in East Peoria and Morton.