Outdoor Garden And Creating Garden Steps
Steps provide as much of an opportunity to beautify your yard as any other item on your landscaping agenda. They can be built from round-cut logs, concrete, brick or stone.
Use the same standard dimensions for outdoor steps as you would indoors, particularly in high-traffic areas. Your tread should be 10 inches deep, 1/4 inch lower in the front than in back to permit drainage. Risers should be about 7 1/2 inches. A good foundation is essential, especially for steps not made with round-cut logs. Your foundation should extend 6 inches below the frost line.
Concrete is a popular choice when building steps, though not always the most attractive. Construct a simple form using a series of boxes made from of lx6 or lx8 inch scrap lumber. Each box should be the same width but 10 inches shorter than the box for the step below it. Place boxes one on top of the other, and use lathing cleats to hold them together, bracing the corners well. Use 1 part Portland cement to 3 parts sand and 6 parts gravel. Pour the cement and level with the flat edge of a board.
To eliminate the need for forms use precast concrete blocks. It costs about the same as pouring concrete but is much easier, especially for a one-person operation. Take special care when bonding the blocks to each other and improve the appearance of your finished product by applying a thin coat of concrete.
Build your steps with landscaping brick the same as you would with concrete blocks. This may require some heightened masonry skills and the many joints can be a weakness, but the result will be more attractive.
The principle difficulty in constructing stone steps is finding the stone. This presents no problem at all in some areas, but where stone must be purchased these are by far the most expensive type of steps to build. They can also be the most beautiful.
If you can find adequately sized stones you can build your steps without masonry bonding by applying the principles of dry-wall construction. You will need to use mortar when working with freestanding steps. Prepare your foundation as you would for brick steps and place your concrete beds carefully to keep a good pattern. Be precise in your leveling (we recommend the string level) and clean spilt mortar from stones before it dries. If you do need to clean up hardened mortar, use muriatic acid.
Wooden rounds cut from large logs make a beautiful and easily constructed set of steps. Place the bottom round in the ground and position the next round partly over it. This will create a riser. Fill the space between rounds with earth and firmly tamp it. Follow this procedure to the desired height.
On long, steep slopes where there is no need for real steps use informal wooden steps. Ramp steps can be made with risers.
