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I usually enter and exit my home through the garage, but the other day I was by my front porch and noticed the riser was cracked and loose. The part in the image also flexes when you push on it. Is there an easy way to fix this? I've never had to fix porch steps before.

enter image description here

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    It's hard to tell from the photo but that lighter material looks like a latex masonry coating. If so, you should be able to scrape it off and re-apply a new coat.
    – jwh20
    Nov 12, 2020 at 20:27
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    @jwh20 It seems to be about 1/8 of an inch thick. Would that still be the latex coating?
    – j08691
    Nov 12, 2020 at 20:35
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    Yes, concrete that thin would have zero structural strength.
    – jwh20
    Nov 12, 2020 at 21:00

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The loose material you are wanting to repair is called "parging". It may be referred to as a skim coat as well. It typically is a coat of mortar, not cement. Mortar has more limestone in it to make it more workable.

11-13 EDIT

You can easily remove the bulk of the loose material by tapping the surface with a hammer. It should readily crack and fall off. to clean up the areas that meet the top of the landing will need a little help, since the parging will not necessarily crack cleanly at the top of the slab. That is where a chisel can come in handy. It does not need to be any specific size just something that has a straight cutting edge on it. Even an old crappy screwdriver will work in a pinch.

After everything that was loose has been removed, clean the surface with water and a stiff bristle brush to remove all contaminates. Let it dry a little. then start the applying of new material after the areas are protected from excess mortar. If you do the new application the next day, the surface will be still damp enough to help aid the the curing of the new coat.

End 11-13 EDIT

Using the proper sized trowels and surface protection, apply the mortar to the wall in a thin layer about 3/8" thick, let it set up firmly then with a fine haired brush, like a soft shop brush sweep the surface with it to give the sanded finish.

Typically the finish you see is for esthetics only, not for weathering, but to be safe, use type "S" masonry cement. It is what is used for waterproofing the outside of basement walls in CMU (Cement Masonry Unit) construction.

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  • Should I remove the parging that's there now, or just cover it with new? If I need to remove, how would I go about that? Thanks
    – j08691
    Nov 13, 2020 at 16:15
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    If you don't remove it, @j08691, all your new parging will fall off when the old stuff does. I'm pretty sure that if you start picking at the existing stuff, you'll discover an efficient way of removing it.
    – FreeMan
    Nov 13, 2020 at 19:04
  • Just to confirm what @FreeMan stated, absolutely, the loose parging needs to be removed. I will add more to the answer to direct you on how to do it. Is there a chance you could add a picture that shows the entire stairs with all the parging? I will still need to see any cracks, unless that is the only place that has cracks?
    – Jack
    Nov 14, 2020 at 6:31

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