Replacing concrete porch and stoop

I am looking to replace my front and back concrete porches and stoops. They have settled and are severely sloped toward the house, and the stoops have been patched and repaired to address that issue.
The slabs are 5'x4' and 6'x4' "on grade", so there’s no actual step until you get to the stoop/threshold, which is level with the first floor interior slab. Door stoops are 4' W x 7" H x 2.5 or 5" D (measured from the slab surface).
So my specific question areas are:
1. Does the slab get secured to the foundation somehow? The foundation is cinder block.
2. Water leaks in through the foundation at the back door and into an otherwise sealed space located under the first level slab and adjacent to the half basement. The space contains the sewer main and I know the water leaks in because it leaks out around the pipe. I will address the obvious grading issue, but might I find some sort of damage to the foundation in that area? What would I fix that with (supposing it's more than a crack in a cinder block) and can that fix be done immediately prior to the slab pour?
3. Regarding the stoop, is that a requirement? Though in my opinion it seems easier to enter and exit the doors with the stoop in place, and allows for installing thresholds for things like storm doors. Regardless, how is that installed? Would it be framed out and poured with the slab, perhaps pouring the slab, waiting and then adding the stoop?
4. Any particular suggestions for this project? This is my first concrete job. Weather-wise, I am located in the Philadelphia area.
Thanks for your insight.

 

I am having some difficulty picturing your projects, and so are others users, I assume, as you have no answers so far. It would help if you could keep each one separate and attach a photo or two of each.

 

I'm a builder in the chicago area, and in turn pour my fair share of concrete. First of all, if you have never poured concrete before,it is going to be difficult for you to pour all of these slabs at one time unless you have plenty of help, and atleast one helper who has finished concrete before. You have to understand how long you have to work the concrete before it gets to hard to finish. Also, around here anyway, concrete companies have a minimum yardage (4 yards around here) or there is an extra delivery charge of $75 or so. So unless you can get enough experienced help to do all this in one pour, it might be cheaper and look better to just hire someone for the pours. I'm going under the assumption that the cement truck will not be able to reach all these pours, and therefore you will have to wheel it or use a skidsteer.

If you decide to tackle this, this might help you. Make sure you put a good 4"-6" of 3/4" stone under the slab to help drain the water from under the slab. If you don't have drainage under the slab, when winter comes the slab will rise when the ground freezes. It is going to raise and settle with or without the stone, but not as much. The only way to stop that from happening is to pour a frost wall which will be atleast 40" into the ground. Make sure you compact the stone before you pour. you will want to drill and pin 1/2" rebar into the block wall to keep the slab from raising, settling or pulling away from the house. As for repairing the crack or leak, we use hydraulic cement around the penetrations in the wall with a coating of tar, or for smaller cracks, they sell a two part epoxy that you mix and then inject into the crack.

A concrete contractor would probably pour the step at the same time as the pour, but they know what they are doing. How you do it depends on if you know how to form steps into pours, and what kind of hand tools your working with. You always want to keep your pours lower than your house floor grade for snow and rain reasons.

If you decide to do this, I would suggest helping someone pour something else just so you can atleast get a feel for what your in for. At the least, watch a pour or two and talk to some finishers. good luck

 

How does one post attachments? I don't think I have that ability here.

Perhaps I can simplify by constraining to one slab. And since most of the project has been done, I might reduce my questions.

The porch slab is about 6' wide x 4' deep x 4" thick. The entry level of the house is slab floor; the foundation is cinder block. The patio slab sets 7" below the threshold of the entry door.

The demo work indicates that the slab floor was extended out (after the house was built and the patio slab poured) by 5" to provide for a threshold to the exterior storm door. That extension is a poured block setting on the patio slab and abutting the foundation (I previously called this the 'stoop'). There were no expansion joints, and no pins or keys holding that together.

So now I've removed the old patio slab and the accompanying threshold extension. I have poured a new patio slab (4" thick, steel mesh-reinforced) at 1/4" per foot slope. The slab is now 2-3" below the entry threshold after raising the front edge of the slab to grade and sloping up to the foundation. Expansion joints are in place as necessary.

How do I get that threshold extension back properly? Trying to think ahead, I pressed a 2x4 into the patio slab in front of the door to make space for a 'key'. Currently there is no threshold for the storm door.

If I don't have the 'key' (as is the case on the rear entry patio slab - first try, some mistakes), then what?


In response to your post allareawide, the total quantity of cement here was way under 4 yards, and definitely less than 1 I think (if my math is right - about 34, 80# bags).

I never found what really looked like the source of my leak at the back, so I didn't do anything. And a 40" frost wall sounds like alot of digging... between the three of us working with shovels, we never would have made it. Pinning might have been a good idea, but I'm very nervous about trying to drill into these old blocks, lest I bust something. I have what I have for now, so I'll just cross my fingers. I do appreciate your response however

Thanks all.