How to repair and maintain concrete steps

Concrete steps need little maintenance or special care, but if you eventually end up with a crack or chip, these can be fixed. Here are tips for repairing or maintaining concrete steps.

• Keep concrete steps well swept, and hose them down to get rid of muddy footprints and other abrasive material that will wear down the steps' surface and can be tracked into the house to do worse harm.
• To keep steps from getting stained, scrub them with detergent and water and rinse well with a hose.
• When they dry, apply a masonry waterproof coating, which will make future cleaning jobs far easier. Don't worry; the coating won't make the steps slick.
• If your steps' surface becomes grease-stained, sprinkle some dry cement over the stain and let it sit for an hour to absorb the mess, then sweep it up with a broom and dustpan. If you don't have dry cement, try plain sand or cat litter.

• Seal narrow cracks in concrete steps before winter comes; water that gets inside and freezes will expand and make the crack worse.
• Brush away any loose concrete and dirt. Then fill the crack with an exterior urethane or silicone-modified acrylic caulk rated for use on concrete. The caulk comes in tubes that fit in a regular caulk gun.
• Smooth it to blend with the surrounding surface.

• Railings attached to concrete steps often work loose because their bolts rust or water gets into the bolt holes, freezes, and expands, pushing out the bolts. If you have a loose railing, fix it, but also improve the original installation. Anchor new bolts upside down to make the railing sturdier.
• Detach the railing from the wall by removing the screws or wall brackets. Then use a pry bar to lever up the floor-mount bracket and pull the old bolts out of the concrete.
• Use an electric drill fitted with progressively larger masonry bits to widen the bolt holes until they will accept the heads of new bolts.
• Brush the insides of the bolt holes with masonry bonding agent, then slip the new bolts into the holes upside down. Mix and pour special-purpose anchoring cement around the bolts, and let it set for at least an hour.
• Once the anchoring cement is firm, apply a masonry waterproof coating around the bolts. Then reposition the railing and secure it with nuts and lock washers.

• To fix a chipped corner or edge on concrete steps, you need to make a temporary wooden form to hold the wet concrete patch in place while it dries.
• A corner requires two boards nailed together at right angles, while an edge requires only a single board.
• Use boards that are as wide as the step is deep and brace them with bricks or heavy blocks to keep them in place.
• Use a concrete patching compound, mixing it with enough water to make it thin for pouring but not runny.