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Old timer showed me his trick for floating steps that saved me hours
He told me to use a speed square to check my riser heights before every pour instead of trusting the forms, and after trying it on a 16-step front porch in Austin last month I only had to grind down one tread. Anyone else got a weird tool they use for steps that isn't standard?
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the_eric8d ago
And following up on what Brian said about being picky, that's exactly where the speed square trick shines because it forces you to be that picky on every single step. I've seen guys who build steps for decades still get sloppy after the fifth or sixth riser when they're tired and the sun is beating down. The grind-down count isn't really about how good your forms are, it's about catching the tiny shifts that happen during the pour itself when concrete hits the forms and pushes everything just a hair. I did a set in Houston where the ground was wet and the whole form settled a quarter inch on one side during the pour, caught it with the square check and fixed it before the concrete set. So yeah, it might feel like overkill if everything goes perfect every time, but who's actually getting perfect pours on every job?
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samrodriguez22d ago
16 steps and only one needed grinding? That's a pretty good number honestly but I'm wondering how bad your forms were in the first place. I've been building steps for about 12 years now and I can count on one hand the times I've had to grind more than a couple treads after the pour. If you're setting your stringers right and bracing the forms tight you shouldn't be seeing wild height differences unless the ground is shifting on you. Speed square check is fine I guess but it feels like overkill for something that should be caught during form setup. Last set I did in San Antonio I just used a tape measure and a level and everything came out within 1/8 inch without any grinding at all.
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