Versaliner, a step form liner from Polystone Products that's touted to take the guesswork out of texturizing vertical concrete surfaces, eliminates the strip and texture method associated with building textured concrete stairs.

Building Decorative Concrete Steps

Ask most contractors and they'll tell you that they'd rather pour thousands of feet of concrete than build one 20-by-4-foot staircase — let alone a radius one. The day of the pour, many will readily admit that there's a knot in their stomach and that they wish the day had already come and gone… and left behind a perfect set of stairs.

Whereas a time machine doesn't exist, there are a few products on the market today designed to make the hard task of building decorative stairways a little easier.

Fancy stepping
Contractors may be familiar with one such product — namely Step Liners — made by Stegmeier L.L.C., headquartered in Arlington, Texas. The company also has a manufacturing plant in Henderson, Nevada, right outside of Las Vegas.

“These are foam forms that adhere to the inside of formwork to create architectural profiles that match cantilevered edges of swimming pools,” says Bud Stegmeier, western division manager and son of the founder of the company. Basically, they're used to mold a fancy edge on one step or a whole staircase. They're not only easier to use, he contends, but they're also quicker.

“When you form steps out of wood, that wood is dense material. Water doesn't penetrate it and it takes longer for the steps to set up,” he explains. “Step Liners are made of a porous material that will accept bleed water. This allows them to be stripped much, much earlier than conventional wood or steel step forms.”

And because the liners are porous, they don't create suction. Unlike wooden forms that often pull little patches of concrete along with them, the foam forms let loose and will strip with very little finishing to be done.

“I was a contractor for a long time,” states Stegmeier. “And sometimes — if the customer didn't want to spend the extra money — I'd use these Step Liners anyway and not charge them. Why? Because the steps stripped so much cleaner and the process saved me so much more labor.”

Step Liners are available in six profiles, with the one called “Safety Tread” worth its weight in gold, Stegmeier claims. If an architect specifies radius steps that have angled risers, which some counties and cities require on commercial buildings, “It can be a nightmare to build,” he notes. But a contractor can shape the forms into the desired radius and nail them to “straight up and down, plumb” formwork.

Stegmeier says these forms can be used for virtually any radius. Fiberglass reinforced strapping tape is applied on the side opposite the direction of the intended bend. The bending tape prevents the form from breaking on one side while allowing a radius to be compressed into the other side, he explains.

These one-time-use, expanded polystyrene forms are available in 4- and 8-foot lengths. Each form comes with its own disposable foam tool. “Since the forms can be stripped away so early, finishing usually involves misting the surface with a spray bottle and going over it with these tools,” says Stegmeier. “The foam profile tool doesn't leave chatter marks like some metal tools do. It has a soft edge and it gives a clean finish.”