Crumbling steps

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dfurman

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I have an issue with crumbling concrete steps that I hope someone here can help me with.
House was built in 1948, the step are original as far as I know. Former owners painted the porch, and then at some point they were covered with outdoor carpet; I assume to conceal the deterioration.
Last summer I pulled off the carpet, and scrapped off all the paint that I could. I got rid of all the lose cement, and then put in some screws and wire so the concrete patch would have something to grab onto.
I went to Lowes and bought Quikcrete Vinyl cement patch, and either their Hardener or Fortifier (I can’t remember which one I used. I might be able to find the bottle in the garage though). I followed their directions, and did the best I could to reform the corner of a step that was missing, and fill some other small areas.
It turned out great, I was very happy with it. We let it set for a couple weeks and then painted the entire porch. Midway through the winter we noticed the paint starting to bubble and peal. Soon the cement was coming off in small layers, and then started to come off in bigger chunks.
Does anyone have any idea why this happened? Or what I did wrong?
THANKS
 
I went and read the instruction and it says noting about adding a hardener or anything but water.
I doesn't say how long to wait before painting.
Did you do more that 1/4" at a time, and did you protect it from drying to fast?
And :welcome:
 
Thanks for the response. Since this was almost a year ago I can't remember exactly what I did, or why. But it seems like I read on something from Quikrete that it is best to use some type of additive like the Hardener. I'll have to see if I can find any left over stuff in the garage, hopefully that will jog my memory.

(I just read the instructions and you're right it says to add nothing but water, and no bonding agent needed. This made me remember painting some kind of bonding agent on the step before I put on the new cement. The only explanation I have for doing that is that I must've used a different type of patching cement because I would've never applied that if it said it's not needed right on the pail. I threw out the tub of cement patch material since it was gone, so I may have to go to Lowe's to look at see if I can figure this out).

As far as keeping it wet. When I did this it was the hottest part of the summer and I remember spraying it a few times with water. Maybe I didn't keep it wet enough.

Are you supposed to only do 1/4" of a patch at a time? I wasn't aware of that. Every video I watched showed people doing the entire patch job at once.
 
I haven't used it but but I have seen it used on tilt up warehouses and those guys put it on thin and put scratches in it for the next coat to stick to.
 

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