Nobody thinks about their concrete steps until they're hauling groceries up them in February and the top tread rocks under one heel. Then it's all you think about.
We build and replace concrete stairs across the East Side, Elmhurst, Federal Hill and out through Cranston and Pawtucket, and the reason I started Providence Concrete Company doing this work is that the failure is almost always underneath. Bad fill, a footing that never got below frost, water sitting where it shouldn't. Fix the base or you're paying for the same flight again in three winters.
What we promise is short, and we keep it. We show up when we said we would, we pick up the phone, we don't talk down to you about rebar, and we don't leave your yard looking like a job site.
Below: precast, paved and cinder block options, how the pour goes, what moves the price, and the questions folks ask before booking. Ring me at (401) 394-6425 and I'll come look at them.
Precast Concrete Steps
Precast concrete steps come off the truck already cured, and we set them with a boom in a single morning, which is why they make sense on the tight streets off Federal Hill where nobody has room for forms and a mixer. But a precast unit is only as good as what's under it. We dig out the soft stuff, compact a gravel base, and get bearing about three and a half feet down, below where the frost gets to. Set a unit straight on dirt and by March it's leaning toward the house, water sits at the threshold, and the gap under the bottom tread widens every winter.
We'll also pour a concrete landing for stairs where the unit meets grade, or tie a concrete landing for deck stairs in at the back so you're not stepping onto mud. Providence Concrete Company seals the risers before the first salt season, because road salt eats an unsealed precast face fast.
Paved Steps
Paved steps are what a lot of Benefit Street and East Side homeowners want, brick or bluestone underfoot instead of plain gray, and the way we build them is to pour the concrete stairs first and face them after. A paver is only ever as flat as what sits under it. So we set the treads in a full mortar bed, keep the joints tight, and pitch each tread a hair forward so meltwater runs off instead of sitting there in January waiting to freeze and lift the stone.
Skip that pitch and you get frost jacking by the second winter, loose treads, and that rocking wobble that grabs a snow shovel every time.
Where the run meets the door, my Providence Concrete Company crew ties the concrete landing for stairs into the same base, so the landing and the steps move together or not at all.
Cinder Block Steps
Cinder block steps show up on half the older triple-deckers in Elmwood and Silver Lake, and most of the ones I get called out to were laid straight on dirt with the cores left hollow and a thin parge coat smeared over the front. Water finds those cores, February does what February does, and the face lets go in sheets. When Providence Concrete Company rebuilds a set, we dig a footing about three and a half feet down, below our frost line, run rebar up through the block, fill every core solid with grout, then cap and parge it so it wears like poured concrete stairs. Same method when block is carrying a concrete landing for deck stairs off a back porch. Two or three days of work, then a week of leaving them alone while everything cures.
What the job involves
Pouring concrete steps here starts with a hole, not a form. We dig footings below the frost line, and in Rhode Island that means going down about four feet, because stairs set on loose fill will heave by the second February and drift away from your house. Then compacted gravel, rebar tied into the footing, an air entrained mix that can take our freeze and thaw cycle, and forms set so every riser matches within a quarter inch. Uneven risers are how people go down carrying a bag of groceries from Eastside Marketplace. We pitch the concrete landing for stairs slightly away from the door so meltwater runs off instead of sitting there turning into a skating rink, same with a concrete landing for deck stairs out back. Forming and pouring a set of concrete stairs is usually two days, then you stay off it a week. Height, width and how much old stair we break out are what move the number on any job Providence Concrete Company takes on.
What it costs
What it costs on a set of concrete steps comes down to a handful of things: how many risers, how wide the treads, whether we're forming and pouring in place or setting precast concrete steps, and what we find once the old set is off. Frost depth matters too. The ground here moves every winter, and concrete stairs sitting on a few inches of loose fill will pitch back toward the house by the third thaw, which is how water ends up in your basement. A concrete landing for deck stairs adds forming time. So does a tight side yard where the truck can't back in close.
Call me at (401) 394-6425 with your rough measurements and I'll give you a real figure. Providence Concrete Company quotes demolition and hauling in that same number, not as a surprise later.
Why choose us for this
Your front steps have gone soft at the nose, the handrail wiggles, and you've been stepping over the bad tread since the last February thaw. You don't want a project. You want somebody to fix the concrete steps once so you can stop thinking about them.
Here's what we won't do.
We won't quote a number at the curb and then find a reason to grow it on the invoice. We won't start your stairs and disappear to a bigger job across town for four days. We won't lean on you to sign today. And we won't leave busted concrete on your lawn for the city to argue about.
We're not the cheapest quote you'll get, because we dig and compact under the concrete landing for stairs instead of pouring on soft fill.
Same crew that pours the flatwork for Providence Concrete Company builds the steps, and the estimate costs you nothing.
Frequently asked questions
How soon can I use my new concrete steps?
Poured concrete steps take foot traffic in about 24 to 48 hours, but the mix keeps hardening for 28 days, so go easy on furniture dollies and hold off on de-icer that first winter. Rock salt on green concrete scars the tread faces. Precast sets are quicker, since we can set them and the landing the same morning.
Can you fix one bad step, or does the whole set have to go?
If the treads are chipped and the base is solid, we patch or resurface. If the stringer has settled, the concrete landing for stairs is cracked, or the whole run has pulled away from the house, replacement is the honest fix. Patching a sinking set just moves the problem to spring.
How do we get started?
Call Providence Concrete Company at (401) 394-6425 and we'll come look at the steps.