Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - Need advice installing limestone treads over brick steps...

I just bought a house and the front porch steps are in dire need of repair. The previous owner patched it in spots and painted the whole mess black :confused: .

My idea: I was going to mortar the loose bricks back into place first. Then, I was going to use mortar or cement to skim coat the steps to give them a uniform look. Finally I was going to add new limestone treads on top to give them a whole new look.

Questions: Is this plan well founded? What do I use to secure the limestone treads? (I was thinking "liquid nails" might be a good choice)

Any advice is greatly appreciated! ;)

Use Portland cement (1 part) and sand (2 parts) spread about 3/4" on the bricks and set the stone after applying pure portland cement paste (Portland cement and water) to the underneath of the stone in place compressing the cement to about 1/2". The prep works sounds great. Make sure there is a slight pitch on the tread.
Frank

Thanks Frank99!

That's a big help!

I just bought a house and the front porch steps are in dire need of repair. The previous owner patched it in spots and painted the whole mess black :confused: .

My idea: I was going to mortar the loose bricks back into place first. Then, I was going to use mortar or cement to skim coat the steps to give them a uniform look. Finally I was going to add new limestone treads on top to give them a whole new look.

Questions: Is this plan well founded? What do I use to secure the limestone treads? (I was thinking "liquid nails" might be a good choice)

Any advice is greatly appreciated! ;)

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What you propose cannot be done if the current steps have no limestone treads that you will be replacing.

The reason is that by adding new limestone treads you alter the riser height of the entire brick stair unit creating a building code violation in the process.

homebild,

I appreciate the heads up, but I doubt that anyone from my township is going to randomly inspect the steps to my front porch :p .

Anyway, if you add a limestone tread to the top of each step, doesn't the rise for each step remain the same (except for the very first step)??

Thanks!

you could always raise the grade at the first step so it is even. what is the original riser height could all be a moot point in the raise in riser height is still less than code max. (i believe residential is a max 8" dont quote me, i know max commercial is 7") still would have to raise grade at first step though.

tect75,

Thanks for the tip, I'll check with the local codes and see how I could work with it. ;)