How to Repair Pitted Cement Steps

LESLIE: Dennis in Massachusetts on the line is having some issues with pitted cement steps. What’s going on?

DENNIS: I have a 1989-built modular home and I have 4 steps going up to the front door. It’s a one-piece cement piece and it’s become so pitted now because of salt and ice and whatever else. And I just wanted to ask you if there was any way that I could refurbish that to make it look nice.

LESLIE: Oh, yeah. I mean there’s actually lots of ways. So, now, when you’re talking about pitted cement steps, you’ve got little holes where the salts have been sitting on it – have just sort of eaten away at the surface. So you can fill those. There are actually epoxy patching compounds that you can get. Several of the concrete manufacturers will make them. You have to make sure that it is a cement/concrete patching compound; otherwise, it’s not going to stick.

You can’t take brand-new cement and try to fill it in there because they won’t stick to one another. And it’s made specifically for cement. And some of them are self-leveling, some of them are not. You may want to put – over the entire surface, you might want to fill the holes and then coat the whole surface so you’ve got a nice, smooth surface when you’re finished instead of pitted cement steps. Now, the only thing is the color. It’s not going to match that worn cement.

DENNIS: Yeah, that’s why I called you, because I know it’s not going to match the color. So, should I get a professional to come and do it and match the color or …?

TOM: My advice would be to use a complimentary color. You’re never going to get it to match exactly.

DENNIS: Alright. So, if I think – I live in Carver, Mass, which is the cranberry capital of New England. And if I wanted to stain it cranberry, I could do that maybe?

TOM: Sure.

LESLIE: But make sure you get a concrete stain or a concrete paint.

DENNIS: OK. So, one more time, what is the name of the product again?

LESLIE: It’s an epoxy – e-p-o-x-y – epoxy patching compound. Several of the cement manufacturers will make one. QUIKRETE has one. There’s a bunch out there.