Building Concrete Steps

Summary: Building concrete steps isn't an appropriate project for the beginning DIY enthusiast to take on. It requires experience in mixing and pouring concrete. It also takes a fair amount of mathematical calculation (geometry mostly) and it requires a good deal of hard physical labor.

However, if built correctly, you'll have a staircase that is a true work of art and that will last pretty much forever under normal usage.

Here is a list of tools and materials you'll need for building concrete steps in your home:

• Shovel
• Wheelbarrow
• Form lumber
• Hammer
• Nails
• Portable concrete mixer
• Concrete ingredients (Portland cement, aggregate, water, sand)
• Or premixed concrete
• Screed board


• Trowel

Step 1: Calculate the Stairs' Dimensions

Stairs consist of a riser, the vertical face, and the tread, the part you step on.

Calculate the elevation, the height of one floor to the other. This number is the total rise to the stairs.

Measure the horizontal distance the staircase will span. Measure the width of each step from left to right in the area where the staircase will go.

Divide the elevation by 7.25 to see how many steps you'll need.

This height is typical for step risers. To get it to come out evenly, you may have to go a little above or a little below 7.25 inches. Just make sure, when building concrete steps, that if you go much above 7.25 inches that you don't violate your local building codes.

Let's say you intend to build concrete steps up from a sunken living room. An overall vertical height of 15 inches would result in two risers at 7.5 inches each.

The horizontal length of the stairs can be varied a little more.

Treads should be 11 inches or greater to accommodate the average foot comfortably.

The number of treads you need is always one less than the number of risers you need.

In the case of the above theoretical staircase, you would need one 11-inch tread.


Step 2: Determine the Dimensions of the Staircase Foundation

When building concrete steps, you will need a foundation: a slab of concrete poured to a depth of several inches below the grade level (check local building codes).

The dimensions are equal to that of the footprint of the stairs.

To calculate your necessary footprint, take the total run for length of the slab, and total width of the stairs for the width of the slab.


Step 3: Build the Form

The form can be made with plywood or framing lumber. It can be made from scrap or low-grade lumber.

The first step is to cut the side forms according to the tread and riser calculations. This should look like the view of a staircase from the side.

They must be securely adhered to the building's foundation. You want the new stairs to bond to the foundation seamlessly.

Add wooden stakes as bracing against the outward movement of the poured concrete every 12 inches along the

Next, install the boards that will form the face of the risers. These should have a width equal to the height of the riser.

Depending on the width of the stairs, you might have to add bracing to the center of each riser.

Make sure that the forms are plumb and level before proceeding further.


Step 4: Mix the Concrete

For a staircase, you can mix the concrete by hand, or you can use a portable cement mixer.

If you decide to mix it by hand you should understand at the outset that building concrete steps in your home is hard physical labor and likely not a one person job.

If you enlist in a friend's help, be prepared to owe him or her a favor - big time!

If the staircase is any larger than the short sunken living room staircase described earlier. You can use ready-mixed concrete that only requires water, or you can obtain the ingredients individually.

Typically, with concrete you'll calculate 6 gallons of water per bag of cement.


Step 5: Pour the Concrete

Though it requires the least direction from me (since you are not a DIY concrete beginner if you've gotten this far)... this is the real meat of the process of building concrete steps.

Pour the bottom step first, and pour one step at a time. Once you pour it, it should be spread evenly. Use a spade or a rod to remove trapped air bubbles.


Step 6: Add Finishing Touches

There are any number of finishing methods you can use to get a smooth surface while building concrete steps.

A screed board is a piece of lumber somewhat longer than the width of the staircase that you'll gently work front to back and side to side to get the excess concrete off the treads.

You can use a 2 x 4 for a simple screed board.

Use a wood float to level the surface. A wood float is a small piece of flat lumber with a handle on one of the faces.

To provide a finer finish, use a steel trowel, which is very much like a wood float, only the finishing surface is very smooth steel which creates a smoother and less bubbly finish.


Step 7: Wait and Dampen

Once you have the surfaces smoothed, keep the concrete wet or damp for up to one week while it cures.

You can do this by covering the stairs with burlap and keeping the burlap wet, or you can cover it tightly with plastic.

Additionally, spray the stairs with curing compound. This step is essential.

Left open to the atmosphere, the relative humidity of the concrete will drop rapidly.

If it drops below 80%, the curing hydration reaction can stop. If this happens, the concrete may only achieve a fraction of its potential strength.

After a week, the concrete will have attained its final shape, and you can remove the form lumber.

Curing will continue to take place over a period of months.

If after you've completed building concrete steps you plan on staining them (a popular procedure these days), it is important that you allow the concrete to cure for at least 30 days so that the staining will take properly.

I hope this information on building concrete steps inside is helpful to you.

Building Concrete Steps Related Reading

Building Concrete Steps Outside

Precast Concrete Steps

Return to Concrete Projects

Return to Meet-Mr-Concrete Home Page

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