Concrete Steps Construction in Manchester NH - An entry that stays solid and level

Installed precast or poured concrete steps across the US usually cost about $100 to $500 per step, and that's a national figure, not our price. Where your job lands depends on how many steps you need, precast or poured, and how much digging it takes to reach firm ground. I'll give you a Manchester number for your own steps in the estimate I write up after walking your entry.

Precast steps usually cost less because they're hollow and easier to set, while poured steps cost more but can be built in a much wider range of sizes. If a standard size fits your door and your grade, precast is often the sensible buy. If your entry is tall, wide or an odd shape, poured is worth the extra, and I'll walk you through both when I'm out.

Late spring through early fall is the easiest stretch, because the worry is freezing weather soon after the pour, while the concrete is still soaked through. The ready mixed concrete trade group urges caution about pouring outdoors in late fall, winter or early spring, and for steps that freeze and thaw hard it advises ordering a good air-entrained mix, concrete made for those conditions. We pick a pour date with no freeze expected right after.

The city's Building Division handles plan review, permit approval and inspections, and you can find its building permit applications online. Many outdoor projects there need a site plan drawn to scale showing everything on the lot with its setbacks, and anything built in New Hampshire has to meet the state building code. We check with the office about your steps first, help you put together what they ask for, and either take care of the permit or walk you through it, depending on whose name they want on the application.

With proper care and upkeep, concrete steps last about 30 to 40 years, so the upkeep is what gets you there. The concrete trade group advises skipping deicing chemicals on new concrete its first winter and using them in moderate amounts after that. Think of it like a new cast iron pan, where a little care early on pays you back for years.

Usually it's the ground under them, not the concrete. One steps guide notes that even decorative steps may not hold up resting on uncompacted fill, and one This Old House contractor digs below clay when building a base for stairs, because clay holds water, freezes and expands, and that moves stairs in winter. When I look at your old steps, the way they've moved usually tells me what's going on underneath.