Concrete sidewalk and step replacement in Des Moines covers the public walk in front of your house, the front walk to your door, and the steps and stoop where everyone comes and goes.
These are small jobs where getting the height right matters more than anything else.
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The City of Des Moines' sidewalk maintenance page says state law makes the abutting property owner responsible for keeping the public walk safe. If the City sends a defect notice, you have 180 days to repair it, and either you or your contractor needs a permit, which costs $40 for a residential sidewalk. Income-eligible owners can apply for help, and if they're approved within 30 days of the notice, the City arranges the replacement. If you've got a notice, call early so the work fits inside the window.
Iowa SUDAS sets a public sidewalk at a minimum of 4 inches of concrete, 6 inches or the driveway's thickness where it crosses a driveway, and contraction joints spaced the same as the walk's width. The target cross slope is 1.5 percent, with a 2 percent maximum, so water drains without making the walk feel tilted. We break out only the failed squares when the rest are sound, cut clean edges, and match the new squares to the neighbors' height so the next trip hazard isn't the one we poured.
Front steps fail at the nose first, where salt, shovels and boots wear them down, and at the joint with the house, where water gets behind them. We pour new steps with even risers, a landing big enough to stand on while the storm door swings open, and a slight pitch away from the threshold.
HomeGuide's national figures are $200 to $500 per step for poured-in-place concrete, $100 to $350 per step for precast, and $250 to $500 to tear out an existing set. Railings and permits can add to that depending on the height and the city.
HomeGuide puts a new concrete walk at $7 to $17 a square foot installed, and removing a 50-foot run of old sidewalk at $750 to $1,250. Short repairs often hit a job minimum, so it's worth bundling the public walk, the front walk and the stoop into one visit.
If a square has simply dropped and is still in one piece, lifting it may be cheaper. See concrete leveling and mudjacking. If it's broken, heaved by a tree root or flaking apart, it gets replaced.
Example illustration, not a photo of a completed project.
Send the address, a photo, and the notice if you have one. We'll handle the permit and send a written quote. Call (515) 585-4111 anytime or use the quote form.
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