Sidewalks & Steps in Sheboygan, WI

Sidewalks and steps are where tired concrete turns into a safety problem. A raised walk panel catches a toe. A stoop that settles pulls away from the house and lets water run toward the foundation. Steps that flake lose their edges and get treacherous in sleet. Sheboygan has a lot of older homes, with 35 percent built in 1939 or earlier according to Point2Homes' Census summary, so plenty of front steps and walks in town have been through more winters than they were built for. Who to call about a worn front step is a question that turns up in local online groups.

The city's walk or yours?

The sidewalk along the street is handled through the City of Sheboygan's Sidewalk Program. Each spring the City Sidewalk Inspector checks one of ten target areas for walks that are cracked, raised or sunken, and owners of walks that need replacement are sent a notice. The owner then chooses how the work gets done. The city bids the work out each year, and its contractor typically works May through October, with bills sent in October or November.

If roots from a City tree caused the damage, the city credits up to 75 square feet per tree, but only when the city's contractor does the work. That can make the city route cheaper for the public walk even if we are rebuilding your private steps. For program questions, call 920-459-3440, option 7.

The walk from the street or driveway to your door, side paths, and your stoop and steps are on your side of the line. That is the work we quote, and in the city it needs a building permit, which the Building Inspection FAQ requires for all concrete and for steps.

Warning signs

• A lip where one section sits above the next
• A walk tipping toward the house
• A stoop separating from the foundation wall
• Chipped, rounded or crumbling step edges
• Risers of different heights that break your stride
• A rough, flaking surface

Rebuilding a walk

The old sections come out, soft soil is dug out and a stone base is compacted. HomeGuide's sidewalk guide notes most walkways are 4 to 6 inches thick. Forms get a slight cross-slope so water runs off into the lawn instead of standing and freezing. We pour air-entrained concrete, broom it and tool joints at a steady spacing. If tree roots lifted the old walk, we work out a plan first, because a new walk over the same roots will heave again.

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Stoops and poured steps

Poured steps are formed in place to meet your door threshold and landing. Every riser should be the same height and every tread the same depth, or people misstep, especially carrying groceries in the dark. The landing at the top needs room to stand while a storm door swings out. Because the ground here freezes deep, support matters: a heavy stoop sitting on loose fill will tip and sink. We check what is under the old steps before designing the new ones. On some homes precast steps are an option, and we can price both.

Handrails

Steps with more than two risers are safer with a rail, especially in winter. When we pour new steps we can set anchors in the fresh concrete so the rail bolts down solidly instead of being drilled into a thin edge later. The city lists railings among the items that need a permit, so we include them in the same permit.

Winter care

Shovel before snow packs into ice. Use sand the first winter, and stay away from ammonium-based de-icers after that. Seal walks and steps every few years, and fill small cracks early, before ice wedges them wider.