From Step Repair to Step Rebuild

I took advantage of one of the last warm weekends in Chicago for the year and repaired the front step.  However, as I brushed away the lose debris, more and more of the steps came loose. 

Started with this

 

Then so much loose debris came out that I broke through to under the front porch.  Now under that porch is our root cellar but that only accounted for about half of the space.  Until now we had no idea what the walled off area contained.  

Here is a picture of the cavern below the porch

 

So, this little project turned into a rebuild of the bottom two steps.  However, it was neat to see what was under there.