Masonry Steps & Porches in Louisville, KY

Masonry steps and porches take more abuse than any other brick on the house. Every visitor walks on them, rain lands on the treads and sits in the joints, and in winter they get shoveled and salted. Louisville has plenty of them: brick stoops on postwar ranches, limestone and brick steps leading up to older porches, and brick piers holding up porch roofs and floors. When they go wrong it usually shows as loose bricks on the treads, a stoop that has pulled away from the house, or a pier that is cracked or leaning.

Common problems

• Loose tread bricks or caps. Water gets under the top layer, freezes and lifts it.
• A stoop pulling away from the house. The stoop settled because it sat on fill without a proper footing.
• Cracked or crumbling risers. Often hard mortar, salt, or water wicking up from the ground.
• Uneven rise. Steps settle unevenly and create a trip edge.
• Leaning porch piers. Footings too small or undermined by water from a downspout.

Repair or rebuild

HomeAdvisor's brick repair guide puts brick step repair at about $300 to $750 per step and replacing a stoop of up to five steps at $1,500 to $4,400. Which one you need depends on what is under the brick.

If the core is solid and only the top layer is loose, we take up the tread bricks or stone, clean the bed, and reset them in fresh mortar pitched slightly forward so water runs off. If the stoop has dropped or pulled away from the house, resetting the top will not last. The stoop needs to come apart and go back on a footing, with the steps rebuilt at even heights.

Building it right

New or rebuilt steps start with a footing. On top of that we build a block or concrete core, then face it in brick or stone. The treads pitch slightly forward to shed water. Every step gets the same rise and run, because uneven steps are the ones people trip on. We leave a joint where the stoop meets the house so the two can move separately, and we plan railing posts into the masonry so they are anchored, not bolted onto the surface after the fact.

Get a Free Estimate

Porches on older houses

Many Louisville porches sit on brick piers, and steps often lead up from the sidewalk in limestone or brick. On these we match brick and mortar to the original, keep the original stone treads where they can be reset, and use soft mortar on soft brick. If the house is in one of Louisville Metro's eight local preservation districts, rebuilding steps or piers that are visible from the street is exterior work that needs a Certificate of Appropriateness. We plan for that review in the schedule.

Keeping steps in good shape

• Point downspouts away from the steps and stoop
• Use sand or a de-icer that is safe for masonry instead of rock salt
• Repoint open joints on treads before water gets under them
• Keep mulch and soil below the first course of brick