Stair progress at the Aerie

My semi-holiday is over. I went back to work on the steps this morning and got them all carved out and braced with rebar. I worked from 8 AM until 2 PM when a slight spritz of rain drops told me I had done enough for today. I still have six bags of fine gravel to put in the steps to give something besides muddy clay to walk on but I figure I’ll let Mother Nature wash things tonight and tomorrow (weather quacks say we are to get around ¾ of an inch of rain) and put the gravel in place on Sunday when things are supposed to dry off again.

I ran out of the 27 inch long 6 x 6 I was using and had to go to the shorter leftover cuts for one step and used a stone that was almost a perfect match of the 6 x 6 for another step and a large flag stone for the final step at the top. There’s still a small slope to the top step but I can probably round up another large flat stone to take care of that. There are a couple of likely looking outcrops in the woods I can “mine” for flatties.

Why am I spending so much energy building these steps? There are two good reasons. First, as it is now, to get to the basement from the deck you would either have to go through the house, walk down that steep slope (4 foot drop in 12 foot run), or walk far out to where the slope peters out and circle back to the basement. The steps will shorten that route considerably. The second reason is what happened to my Dad back in the 70’s. He went out in the back yard of our home in Oakland one day when it was covered with about 2 inches of snow. He slipped on the slope. His heel caught under him and he tore the ligaments in his knee. No one else was home so he had to crawl up the steps on his own and call for an ambulance. I’ve had two back surgeries, a knee surgery and have a problem ankle. I’ve already slipped on the slope a couple of times. I do not want to have it happen to me or Terry.



The lower 6 steps are formed from 6x6 held in place with rebar. All but the top one of the 6 is 27 inches long.




A large flagstone forms the top step. The next step down is also formed from stone with a perfectly flat front and top. It's almost a match for the 6x6 used on the rest of the steps.




Some of the stone taken out of the steps. This pile of stone is part of what was found in the area dug out for the steps. Much more went in the wheelbarrow and got dumped across the yard in a hollow. (The pieces of rebar on the right are 16 inches long.)




This red gravel will be put down on the top surface of each step to a depth of 1 or 2 inches and then I'll pack it in place.


The hardest task today was pounding the rebar stakes into the ground to hold the 6x6s in place. (Without the rebar, the steps would tend to roll if you put your weight on the front edge or they could shimmy out. In either case the step would be no better than the slope and, perhaps, even more dangerous.) I used ½ inch rebar cut to 16 and 18 inch lengths and a 5 pound hand sledge to drive them into the ground. About half the time I would hit a stone beneath the surface. About half of those stones gave way with a half dozen whacks with the sledge. But half of them didn’t. After pounding on one rebar stake 10 or 12 times without it making any progress, I would move it a couple of inches left or right and try again. Usually that was all it took. But one piece was stubborn and it took me nearly 15 minutes and three relocations before I finally got the damn thing pounded down below the edge of the 6x6. Another was even more obstinate and I finally had to give up. Luckily, it’s the bottommost step and it’s wedged in pretty tightly from the sides.

With all the pounding with the sledge and lifting and dropping the 16 pound pry bar, my arms got to quivering by the time I was ready to call it quits for the day. They’re tighter than a drum even as I type and I feel like I’ve developed Popeye arms. Just don’t ask me to lift anything heavier than a beer can or a glass of Scotch until tomorrow.