Brick front steps have a lot of benefits and a lot of homeowners consider installing them. They give your home the desired first impression. Your neighbours will be impressed with the design and more surprised when you tell them you did the installation yourself.

What you will need

The most important equipment and tools for this project include a hammer, screed, mixing tub, mason’s trowel, level, small sledgehammer, rubber mallet, brick set, paintbrush, mortar bag, burlap rag, jointer, carpenter’s pencil and a burlap rag.

When choosing the materials for this project, you should select stones, bricks, screws, plywood, type M mortar, and Portland cement.

Choose a method

When choosing the right method for installing your steps, you should consider whether you are pouring new steps or finishing your existing steps. The surface of the top step should be lower than the doorsill in both cases. If the surface is too high, you will need to change the doorway.

If you are pouring new steps, you should allow for the thickness of the bricks and the mortar bed when computing the unit rise. Mortaring bricks to steps will need a poured solid concrete foundation that has a surface in good repair.

Cut and place forms

If you want to reface the existing poured steps, you should cut forms for the mortar bed from three-quarter one-inch plywood and drive your two-by-four stakes next to them. You should then level the forms with the edges a half an inch above the top of your brick stairs.

To mortar brick to the newly poured brick steps, leave the forms intact and add a half an inch extension to them. You should then cut half an inch of strips of plywood to the same length as the tread of the steps. Fasten every strip to 2, 6-inch lengths of one by four with the top edges flushing.

Lay your strips on the top edge of your forms and fasten the one by four to the forms. The strips serve as a surface for the screed for the mortar bed and do not have to contain the stresses exerted by concrete.

Apply your mortar

You should mix a small amount of premix in your mortar box and follow the instructions on the label. Using a trowel, spread half an inch of mortar on the face of the first riser and along the bottom.

Lay your first step

You should set the first riser brick in place. Make sure the joints on both the riser and landing are about 3/8 inches thick. You should also ensure that the top of the brick is flush with the step’s top. Butter the end of your second and subsequent bricks and ensure they are set in place. After laying the riser bricks, you should set a level across them and ensure they are flush and level.

Layer mortar

At this stage of installing brick front steps, you should apply a layer of mortar about half an inch deep to the surface of your first tread.