HELP! Concrete steps - a few questions


  #1  
Old 05-29-03, 08:11 AM
YanKee
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Question HELP! Concrete steps - a few questions

I'm a rookie do-it-yourselfer and need advice.

The steps to my house are concrete. Stepping off the house is a landing 139.25" wide and 42" deep. Then come the five steps of same width but each 12" deep and 7.5" high. The steps are typical rectangles. My request for advice is for the following :

1. I would like to curve the steps. i.e. keep the sides straight but curve the front of the steps.

2. I would like to extend the 1st landing to more than 42" as I'm planning to put small porch kind of structure to avoid getting the rain and snow when I open the front door.

3. I like the tumbled paving stones. Is it advisable to use them with concrete. Is using blue stone or rough granite advisable and how would I achieve a curve with this.

4. I'm pretty handy and can follow instructions and figure things out as I go along. What is the difficulty level? Should I do it myself as the contractor want anywhere between $4500 to $7000 for pavers to bluestones. One guy quoted me $80 a ln.feet for blue stone installed. The price of blue stone around my area is $12.50 a foot bullnosed. I have not worked with concrete before and am hesitant but want to save the thousands.

5. I'm also planning to replace the asphalt walkway that starts from the bottom of the step to the driveway using pavers (like Grinnel). I'm confident about doing this myself but am not sure if I should do the steps first or the walkway first as the walkway is to be raised in height to the top of the bottom step. Will there be an issue later where they join each other?

6. I was told by the contractors that I need to put belgian blocks between the asphalt driveway and the pavers where they meet as they could shift. It didn't make sense to me. I want them both level with each other so nobody trips over.

7. Do the pavers' borders need to be set in concrete? How good are the plastic edgings that hold them in place?

8. Is there a website or book that can throw some light and specific advice on this.

Sorry for the long list of questions but my searches have turned up nothing.
Thanks in advance for the help.
 
  #2  
Old 05-29-03, 09:38 AM
Brckman29
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Cool

Take a look at www.belgard.com, they have tumbled pavers that look great. They are easy to install and Belgard has step-by-step instructions to help you out.

Good luck
 
 

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