Entrance steps in fresh Shellcrete topping
Sarasota, Florida
Entrance steps and a covered terrace under a freshly applied pale topping, smooth and not yet ground, with the timber edge forms still fixed to each riser.
The challenge
The steps and terrace were already there. Replacing an entrance means demolition, a dumpster on the drive and a front door nobody can use for a fortnight.
What we did
A topping, applied over the existing structure. These photographs are taken mid-job — the topping is on and still smooth, with timber edge forms fixed to each riser and none of it ground back yet.
That state is worth publishing rather than hiding. Nothing here looks like the finished article: the surface is pale and blank, and every bit of the shell that will define it is still buried under the top layer of paste. Grinding is what brings it out. A customer seeing their own job at this stage and panicking is a call this trade takes constantly, and the answer is that it is supposed to look like this.
The result
A topping is only available where the existing slab is structurally sound, and whether yours qualifies is a question for someone standing on it rather than a question for a web page. Where it does, it is a smaller job than replacement by a wide margin — no demolition, no dumpster, and the structure underneath stays where it is.
There is more on what happens in the weeks after a pour, including which of the alarming things are normal.
This job is on the patios & walkways page.
Services used
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