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Making either perfectly horizontal isn't even the hard part, but concrete steps take a LOT longer, if you can believe it. You have to build a wooden box to pour into, and you can only pour once (new concrete does NOT stick to dry concrete).

I did a concrete landing for these steps, which wasn't too bad, but my next door had his front steps re-poured by actual professionals, and it took them like 2 weeks.

Compare that to mine, which while a pain in the ass really only took about 20 hours total, and I made 7 "stringers" instead of the usual 2 or 3 (I used composite decking on the stairs, which requires support every 9-11 inches) which made it a lot harder (and heavier).

And of course, concrete steps really only look right when they go right up to the house, they don't look right attached to a deck, and they certainly aren't something you want IN your house.



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