Stepping Up Our Entrance

So, in the last post I showed you all of the damage that happened, both because of both insects and water to our wood porch steps. And the decision to replace the steps, while expensive, gave us a chance to honor the original steps, which were concrete. But we didn’t just want to do plain concrete steps – that felt wait too industrial and boring to me.

We really liked the idea of adding some brick into the steps. Since the foundation of the house is brick and you can see a lot of brick on the porch, we thought this would both bring in some color and tie the new steps to the existing architecture – so we talked to both concrete businesses and masons.

We called Midtown Concrete – initially because we saw a yard sign in the neighborhood while on a walk, and we liked the repair to the front steps and walkway that we saw. We had Guy Linville out in person, and immediately we felt really good about it.

It’s hard hiring a person for a job on a historic house. You hear horror stories of people just wanting to do things the easy way or the making things too modern, because that’s much easier. We’ve been “lucky,” and I think it’s because we’re actually really just insistent and picky. I HAVE had the occasional sexist contractor who only talks to Doug. But honestly? Not as much anymore, because I assert myself early on with my knowledge and research of what we want. And we start every conversation with “the integrity of the history of the house is the most important thing to us.” And if we don’t get an enthusiastic vibe in return? Off the list.

So anyway, Midtown was fantastic. We got a great vibe, and started talking plans. When Guy said, “I’ll send you some sketches, but I apologize in advance because I really like to do things on paper still” I said, “ME TOO!”

The problem is, that we loved the curve of the wooden steps, and how they played off the curve of the porch. Remember – that curve wasn’t there in 1902. But, to make and build a form for curved steps was going to make this already-too-expensive project WAY more. (For clarification, their prices were super fair. It was going to be too expensive with ANYONE!) We had talked about making just straight steps, but none of us were keen on that.

The other concern was Halloween. NORMALLY, I would suggest not making major renovation project decisions based on one night a year. But seriously – you need wide steps to handle thousands of kiddos on that night. I mean, REALLY you don’t, but I didn’t want to go backwards.

I thought about making each lower step wider than the one above it. Guy made that even better, by also angling out each step.

GEOMETRY LESSON! The only math I wasn’t absolutely terrible in! I was envisioning multiple rectangles that got larger, he suggested the whole thing in a trapezoid shape.

We loved it. So then we got to work!

(And by we, I mean the crew.)

Demo day!

The removal of the old steps was pretty quick. Probably helps when much of it is crumbling due to rot.

And then we got to the see the porch foundation that is curved. It’s SO BEAUTIFUL!

But wait! “If you have no steps, how will you get in?”

I’m so glad you asked!

One of the more brilliant features, designed into this porch when it was added on in the 80’s is what we’ve dubbed “the sneaky stairs” – a small set of stairs up to the porch on the driveway side. They’re so cute! And very useful.

The form started going up!

The crew gave me a snake skin they found under the steps! I’ve never actually seen a snake on our property but I bet under the porch is an awesome place to live. It would be even better if they paid rent.

By the end of the first day, the form was up, and you could see the shape.

Day Two was concrete day! Our fence caused a bit of an access issue, but these guys made everything happen.

Concrete in the forms!

These giant bolts sticking up will be to attach the new newel posts to the steps. We will be able to trim it however we need, because we are doing that part ourselves!

The bricks started going in next, soldier style. These are not old bricks, but they are a good match!

The brick is done! Well, almost. It still needs the mortar. But it definitely adds the pop of interest I was hoping for!

I was definitely worried that plain concrete would look underwhelming, even with the eventual colorful handrails. The brick REALLY helped, I think!

The next step (HAHAHAHA) was adding a concrete cap on top. To make this happen, a new set of forms was created.

And then the second round of concrete went in!

Then, everything changed. The guys called us outside, and all the new concrete was gone. Scraped off.

What?!?!

They said, “Look, we got the caps on, and it just wasn’t working. It would have been fine, but we aren’t okay with fine. We want this to be great. So we’re done for the day, and we’re going to regroup, and come back tomorrow with a new plan. Whatever we do, won’t affect our quote.”

And that, friends, is how you know you’ve found a contractor who honors both their craft, and your home.

They came back the next day, and said, “We’ve got a surprise!”

Limestone caps. Made of Bedford (or Indiana) limestone.

I was caught off guard for a moment, because it wasn’t what was in my head! But this was a very cool change.

Bedford Limestone is an incredibly historic material to use. It’s been used in monuments all over the country, tons of landmarks, and 35 out of 50 state capitals are made from in. And now, it’s on our house.

It’s incredible.

So, this wasn’t the plan – but it turned out BETTER than the plan.

Two more little projects for this blog post! They replaced a piece of rotted wood at the top of the steps. So I got that painted.

And then – knowing we wouldn’t be ready for hand rails yet, Doug added a temporary handrail. We knew with the Home Tour, we wanted SOMETHING for the roughly 1,000 people coming over. It’s not pretty, but it works!

Next up – but not quite yet – will be the new newel posts and hand rails! Once we have the time….