Patio Progress - Concrete Steps

This has been a labour of love over the last three weeks! Blood, sweat and the whole of my little finger nail (which got ripped off on a piece of reinforcing bar) have gone into these steps! 

With the patio being so large I decided that having a nice, wide flight of stairs would really set it off. There was a few ways I could have made them; timber was out of the question as I wanted something maintenance free and to last a long time (it's very wet here and they'd rot in ten years or so). 

That left me with either using blocks or concrete, the blocks would be more expensive and I'm not great at laying them (so I'd get my brick layer to do it. The concrete on the other is something I could do myself but it does involve a lot of work (and I mean a lot!).

First step form work

Not one to be deterred by a bit of work I went for the concrete option. I have built full flights of stairs like this where you pour all the concrete for the steps in one go (have a look here) but I decided that as I was mixing the concrete in a small mixer by hand I'd do one step at a time, doing it this way means I can use the same timber to form each step as well so it save money. 

I join each step by leaving some reinforcing wire between each step to tie into the one above. Each step is also vibrated to remove the air from the concrete using an industrial vibrator (no rude jokes please!) 

These pictures show the process, there was a bout 6 to 8 mixes full of concrete in each step! I tended to move and set up the shuttering/form work one night, then mix and pour the concrete the next and strip it the night after that. 

Pouring the concrete in for the first step

Removing the shuttering/form work 

Second step form work in. Stone fills in behind and is compacted down. 

third step - note teh bars in the back to tie in the next step

Another step - I did this one when we poured the footings for the extension as I ordered enough concrete to do it - seemed daft to mix it if we were having some delivered.  

Nearly there! 

Steps finished!

I was surprised how much work were in these stairs, even though I knew there would be. I guess mixing concrete after eight at night after doing a ten hour day on a building site is going to make me a bit more tired as well! 

Still it feels great to have them done. They'll get clad in the same stone that the patio will be with a handrail down the sides. 

What do you think? 

Ever made steps like this?

Making A Concrete Plant Pot

I've been doing a lot of concreting lately (I'll show you some more of what I've been up to later) so I thought I'd have a mess around with some left over concrete. 

So with some underground pipe, a bit of plywood and half a Vimto bottle (I do love Vimto so much) I knocked up a very simple shutter to pour some concrete into.

Now because all the sides are straight I knew I'd have a bit of difficulty getting it out of the shutter, basically I made it to be cut out afterwards, much quicker for me and as this was only an experiment it didn't matter. 

The pot poured. Shuttering is basically making things in reverse, so here you see the future base of the pot.

And here's the finished pot. I am only messing around and experimenting at his point but I am tempted to make some big planters for my new patio as I find terracotta doesn't last and other big pots are so expensive. I like the modern look of the concrete on the edges, and although I know this isn't to everyone's taste I think it could look quite cool if you had a collection of pots in a group with some striking plants in them. 

I'm planing on making some big square planters on wheels to act as a barrier to the stairs on the patio that can be moved out of the way, as well as some big pots to plant up some acers and other ornamentals in.

What would you make out of concrete? 

(I know I've asked this before on this post here but it's always interesting to here if people have had new ideas)

I also like the look of these.

Shuttered A Greenhouse Step

Sometimes you do a little job and you wonder why you haven't done it sooner. 

The other Sunday when we were busy concreting, we had a couple of barrow full of concrete left over. I didn't want to waste it (I hate waste as you know) so my brother suggested I shutter a step for the greenhouse. Using half a pallet collar for the sides and a few lengths of batten as posts I quickly knocked up a rough shutter and filled it with concrete. It's not the first time I've made steps though but these were a bit easier!

Shuttered greenhouse step

I left the top tamped to give some grip and tapped around the outside to get rid of some of the air after I filled it up. When I struck the shutter the next day I was quite pleased with my ten minute job, I'm now wondering how I used to open the awkward door on my greenhouse without it! 

It has got me thinking though, we've got lots of concreting jobs coming up, footings, drainage, etc so having somewhere to put left over concrete would be a good idea. I'm going to make some shutters to form some concrete pig troughs and maybe a few other items. 

What would you make shutters for to use up left over concrete?