How often do you think about your outdoor stairs? Probably not very often unless someone trips and falls on them. As the ground shifts over the years or as wood rots away, your stairs can become uneven or hollow. So if your steps start to look like the ones below, it might be time to have them replaced.
The garden steps below are framed with wood and filled with pea gravel, and these in particular have flagstones in the gravel to match the patio. These kinds of stairs are popular because of their modern look and relatively inexpensive cost. The wood has been treated and sealed against the weather, but wood will still wear out faster than stone.
This next stair case was built to connect the front of the house to the back yard. With a slope steep enough to support a 10 ft vertical waterfall, it’s no wonder the home owners needed a way to safely traverse the hill. The steps are each made of a solid slab of milled stone. Each slab is set into concrete to ensure that neither gravity or erosion can knock it out of place. The final product is sturdy yet spectacular.
Flag stone is most often used for patios or walls because the style is known for the mix of large and small irregularly shaped stones. It’s usually harder to create that kind of look on steps because of their limited size. However these steps perfectly showcase how flagstones should be laid out.
Brick steps are a classic choice that can add character to any home. They can be as simple or as elaborate as you like, depending on the pattern the bricks are laid in. Because of the irregular shape of these stairs, the bricks were laid in a very straight forward pattern as to not be overwhelming.
With more and more home owners looking to create more natural landscapes, boulder steps have become very popular. Their irregular shapes and colors add personality with out sacrificing practicality.
And while we at Art of Stone are very familiar with all kinds of staircases, this project provided a unique challenge. This family needed a way for both people and golf carts to traverse this hill, and I guess you can say they were stuck between a house and a septic system. Suzanne and Jason came up with this creative solution.
So regardless of what kind of outdoor stairs you’re looking to build, Art of Stone has the resources and experience to build your staircase a step above the rest.
