Take every personal safety precaution necessary: Don your heavy clothes, shin guards, knee pads, and steel-toed boots, plus protection for your eyes, ears, and face. Make a 2 ½ inch cut in the concrete steps foundation by using a saw. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. Brace the forms with stakes, cut beveled risers, hold them level, and mark their lower corner on the foundation. Although it can be a pricey rental (around $100 a day, plus wear of blade, for a cutting depth of nearly seven inches) and heavy to work with, a wet-cutting saw will ensure the straightest and deepest of cuts, with far less work overall—no chiseling, no hammering, and no need for repeated shallow cuts. Grab a glass of milk because we're about to dunk peanut butter cookies, oatmeal-raisin cookies, snickerdoodle cookies, and many more of our all-time favorite cookie recipes. Before pouring concrete steps, coat the forms with a release agent. Purchase concrete slabs as thick as 6 inches (15 cm). Over time this expansion and contraction, especially if they occur at different rates due to the sections of concrete being exposed to different temperatures, will work the sections apart, and the crack will widen. Excavate the footings to the depth codes require, pour the concrete, and insert 12-inch lengths of rebar 7 to 8 inches into the footings. Clamp a second plywood sheet to the first, edges flush, and cut the outline of the step with a jigsaw. Mark the places you want to cut … Attach an expansion strip to the foundation with construction adhesive. Maintain a constant, firm, two-handed grip on whichever saw you’re using, and slowly move the saw forward tightly against the guide board. Using your plan and the actual dimensions you have computed and sketched, draw the outline of your steps on a sheet of 3/4-inch plywood. If your cut doesn’t need to be exact, use a cold … Precast/prefabricated concrete steps or steps with a … Another method for cutting concrete pavers is to use a hand-held power saw such as a Skillsaw with a masonry blade or a cut-off saw. Step 1: Wear in the protective gear. 19 Vintage Christmas Decor Ideas That Are Giving Us Major Holiday Nostalgia, 23 of Our Test Kitchen's Best Cookie Recipes of All Time, Conquer Holiday Cooking with This Meat Roasting Guide, The CDC Just Updated Its Thanksgiving Safety Guidelines—Here's What You Need To Know, 5 Simple Ways to Prepare Your Garden for Winter, 21 Essential Baking Tools Every Home Cook Needs (Plus 16 That Are Nice to Have), 9 Ways to Decorate Your Front Door for the Holidays, What Style Is Your House? The subgrade should be placed to provide a minimum 6 inches of co… BUILDING THE FORMS for the concrete stairs. BH&G is part of the Meredith Home Group. Cutting concrete all the way through, meanwhile, is a bigger job, made harder the older the concrete is. With an underlying grid of 1/2-inch rebar, poured concrete steps will give you years of low-maintenance service. As the cutting is being done, spray the surface area around the blade with soft sprinkles of water. After you’ve made the guided cut, remove the guide board. Starting at the bottom of the clean cut line at one end of the project, position the chisel blade flush against the concrete, tap the top of the chisel firmly with the hammer so that concrete crumbles away bit by bit until you’ve cleaned up the rough edges to your liking. Cutting hollow concrete block—first, score the line. The top of the rebar should be about 2 inches lower than the finished height of the steps. Step 3. Cutting Depth Your local building authority might have a regulation controlling joint depth, but if not, a standard rule of thumb is to cut to a depth that is at least one-quarter of the slab's thickness. Tap the sides of the forms and risers with a hammer and jab a 2x4 up and down in the mix to drive air bubbles out. If possible, position a garden hose to distribute a trickle of water directly over where you will make the cut. Whether you want to create a countertop or expand your sidewalk, cutting concrete yourself may not be as daunting as you imagine. Make a series of passes until you have cut through the concrete block. With so many types of house styles, narrowing the list down to your favorite can be overwhelming. Cleaning your home doesn't have to be a daunting, time-consuming chore. Go back into the ¼”- to ½”-deep cut and continue doing intermittent cuts that are no longer than 30 to 45 seconds of running the saw. While abrasive blades can cut concrete, they wear out quickly, potentially needing to be replaced multiple times in the course of one project. Step 2. If the remainder is less than 12 inches, you may need to change your plan. Building your essential baking toolbox starts here! Then raise the rebar up and support it on dobies or balusters that you wire to the rebar. A 7” circular saw, for instance, can only cut to 2-¼ inches deep, meaning you’ll need to sledgehammer the rest of the concrete away; a 14” wet-cutting blade attached to a concrete-cutting saw, on the other hand, gets you to 4-5/8 inches of clean cut. Sawcut your form lumber and finish corners: Sawcut all but the bottom step forms at a 45-degree angle. We’ll help you set up a baking kit for beginners with 21 essential tools. Deep brunettes, sandy blondes, and bold reds are in this year. If it’s rebar, your best bet is to jackhammer the concrete off the rebar, or bring in a pro with a demolition saw to cut it up. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Wire perpendicular lengths of rebar across the first pieces. Following steps are usually followed to make different joints: If you are using a groove for the joint, the joint should be a minimum depth of ¼ thickness of the slab. This will keep you in better control of the saw as you work with shallow cuts. Without water, you’ll just have a bit more dust and need to run the saw in the open air between cuts to let it cool off. Mark the places you want to cut on the concrete slab either using chalk line (good for long, straight edges) or chalk. Use the saw to make a line in the concrete that will serve as a weak spot easily broken apart by the sledgehammer. Then, with protective gear still on, hammer away at the cut concrete. These tips will help you make time for self-care for a mental health boost every day. 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