Hello,

I recently had a large portion of my driveway torn out/replaced, a 12 x 18 patio poured, and 3 half moons steps poured, all of 6 bag mix concrete.

The flatwork looks great, virtually flawless.

The steps, on the other hand, don't.

After removing the forms/frame for the three steps, they were very rough, chunks were missing from the edges, etc. The contractor came back the next morning with a self mix bag of quickrete to "cream up the steps". He gave them a swirl pattern, which looks OK. The steps are however much brighter white than the flatwork, and there are concrete "spatters" on the flatwork. He says it will all blend together in a few weeks. It has been 8 days now, and it looks the same.

My two questions are:

1. Will it all really blend together and be the same color white?
2. Will the creamed area done the next day crack/break apart since it was added the next day.

I have pictures if that would help. Any advice/suggestions would be very helpful.

Thanks

First, I am not a concrete expert. I have done a fair amount of concrete over the years, but would not be considered a cement contractor by anybody's standards. I have done a lot of slabs, and built large water tank supports, etc. But, hopefully you can get a cement contractors opinion here. For what it's worth, here is my opinion...

Your suspicions are founded. It is very unlikely that they will match in color if they don't already. Since there is only one day drying time difference, you would have noticed by now if they are going to blend together. More than likely he used a different type of concrete on the steps when he top-coated them. If it would not crumble, that would be fine. You could epoxy paint them to make them a nice feature. However, if the top-coat was real thin, chances are it will crumble and chip off. Some concrete is made so that you can apply it a couple of inches thick, but any less is probably going to be something that will likely give you problems.

It is sometimes difficult to get all of the air pockets, which form the holes on the edge of a form, out. You really have to "vibrate" the concrete a lot as you're working it to remove the air pockets. He knows that he didn't vibrate it enough and that left him with a bad edge finish. Structurally, it will probably not cause problems. But, it isn't very nice to look at. It's also hard to fix without covering it with something... stone, pavers, etc. Or totally redoing it.

I would recommend that you look at the label of the concrete that he "creamed" it with and see what the manufacturer says.

Good Luck,
Al