The Victorian: Getting to the Bottom of Things.

Basement Stairs and Other Such Items.

Among the many issues with the Victorian property when we purchased it was the basement stairs.  I'm not sure that the term dysfunctional even begins to describe the state of the stairs which led to the basement.  There were a couple obvious issues, probably most notably the "cross slope" at the bottom flight which lead me to believe that the stringer was less than structurally solid.  Also an interior post that should have been holding the stairs up was dry rotted out at the base and clearly not supporting anything.  Luckily for me, and anyone who has used those stairs in the more recent past the stairs were also attached to a sidewall, and essentially hung from the main floor which provided enough support that I did not fall through.  Needless to say replacing these stairs was one of the earlier issues needing to be tackled.





The Existing Stairs

      Of course when remodeling nothing is as simple as it would seem, and this was exactly the case with the stairs.  To begin with the basement floor is actually patio pavers layed on a sand bed, which is fairly common in houses of this vintage, since concrete was very expensive at the time this house was built.  In addition there is, of course, no insulation on the foundation walls.  To make matters even more exciting the plumbing exits the house at this location, and so will play a role in this story.

     To begin with I began with the deconstruction of the existing stairs which took up my Friday evening.  This was followed by installation of 1 1/2" open cell insulation board (R-6) which serves both as an insulation layer, but also as a vapor barrier to redirect moisture coming through the foundation down to a new drain tile to be installed later.  Following this work was a hand excavation of the below grade plumbing to determine where it exited the house, followed closely by the removal of said plumbing.  Nothing quite says trouble like coming home Saturday night covered indirt, cast iron dust, and finely powdered bits of whatever it was that was inside the drain pipe.  Having removed and replaced the cast iron (and adding a backflow preventing valve) and then installing drain tile under the new stair area I was finally ready to pour a new section of floor slab.

The first, and most part, of any concrete installation is preparing a proper subsurface upon which the concrete will be poured.  This consisted of carefull backfilling and compaction of soil gravel and sand around the drain tile.  This also meant scraping some high areas down to level as well as filling some in higher and compacting the soil to create a level surface after removing the 1-2" of levelling sand previously installed under the pavers.  This served both to ensure I was not pouring on top of sand, which seems likely to be a less than sufficient subsurface, as well as provide some extra space to put in an inch of extruded poly insulation board which modern building code calls for.  So, after installing the insulation below the concrete, and forming/levelling the edges of the slab.  One word to the wise is to draw your level line on the wall the width of your screed board above the finished grade, as a grade line will disappear once a bit of concrete is slopped on it. 

                                                             Some tools of the trade

     I also had to do some water supply work to do to provide water for mixing concrete.  This consisted of scrapping together some bits of steel pipe and a spare valve to allow local control of water without going to and fro to the main shut-off to control the water flow. 

The corner of the pad showing removed paver, and the concrete form

     Following forming and some plumbing came the actual concrete pouring part.  I like to mix 3-4 60# bags of concrete mix at each shot in the wheelbarrow.  Generally I place half the dry mix in the rear and half in the front leavign a central hollow to add water.  Once water is added I "chop" the dry mix into the water pulling aal the mix to the front of the barrow, and then chop it all again to the rear adding just enough water to wet all the dry mix.  This helps ensure that I do not leave dry pockets in the wheelbarrow and keeps my labor to a minimum.  Using this method I can mix and screed about 1/2 yd3 of concrete in an hour as long as I keep moving  Keep in mind that you only want to pour concrete in amounts that you can pour and screed in 2 hours or less (though you have longer when it is colder)



The finished slab

     This concludes the concrete pouring tutorial, stay tuned for the stair building tutorial coming up next where I'll show how I am building a hybrid spiral/standard staircase.  This is mostly being done to gain floor space in this tight area of the house, but it also helps restore the historical charm deserving in a house of this vintage.