The new staircase is falling apart from freezing!

[peternicklas]

How is the drainage around the stairs?

 

[Nimajneb]

If you look at the picture from last fall, you can see that the stairs are wet in several places. So before winter and before the salt possibly made things even worse.

Exactly, and the plaster hadn't come off then.

 

[ToryKulan]

No, no special drainage around the stairs. The staircase is built with masonry lecablock on a poured footing, without reinforcement. But around the staircase, no special drainage was made. A new stone path is laid, with first geotextile and then sand that was packed and then new concrete pavers in an attractive pattern.

Should there have been any drainage around the stairs?

 

[peternicklas]

No, no special drainage around the stairs. The stairs are built with concrete blocks on a cast sole, without reinforcement. But no special drainage was done around the stairs. A new stone path was laid, first with fiber cloth and then sand that was packed and then new concrete stone in a nice pattern.

Should there have been any drainage around the stairs?

I would probably have put drainage around the stairs from the beginning. Water has a good ability to "climb" capillary action.

 

[ToryKulan]

Visited the Home and Villa Fair today. A bit dull as usual, but there was someone selling this product http://duracoat.se/info/132/DuraTrapp
Do you think it could be a possible way to repair the stairs? I'm thinking of just chipping off the old plaster and filling the sides with this two-component filler and embedding the stone in that filler.

We still haven't contacted the person who did the job and reported the damage, but it might be good to have an opinion on how the damage should be repaired when we start the discussion.

 

[Attimannen]

I went to the Home and Villa Fair today. A bit dull as usual, but there was someone selling this product [link]
Do you think this could be a possible way to repair the stairs? I'm thinking you just chip away the old plaster and use this two-component filler to smooth out the sides and set the stones in the filler.

We still haven't contacted the person who did the job to file a complaint about the damage, but it might be good to have an opinion on how the damage should be repaired when we start the discussion.

You can't build a staircase with Leca; it absorbs water like a sponge. A staircase should be reinforced and cast in a very strong mortar.
It used to be called Class A mortar, but I think there's a new classification system nowadays.
A properly reinforced (with the steel at least 5cm inside the concrete surface) staircase can withstand being salted all winter.
Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to salt bridges.
Complain about the staircase, it's a made-up construction.
If you want more information, borrow the house AMA from the library and read up on how a staircase should be constructed (which isn't really your responsibility because you have purchased the service).

 

[Maxwells demon]

Nonsense. Of course, you can build a staircase in leca.

 

[Hallerudsbo]

I hope, however, that TS has managed to get the staircase done since it has been over 3 years since he created the thread.