Hello,
We are interested in a DIY overhaul of our old 'stone's (recycle concrete slab) garden stairs. They were becoming unsafe with loose or missing stones and were becoming a weeding issue. Our idea was to create grass steps using the existing stone risers (to save money).
For better or worse we got started on it by removing the concrete slabs from the tred surface and have now got a bit stuck on what to do next. We want to make sure we build a safe and sturdy stair case
2 issue we have noticed are:
- some of the tred stones were under the riser stones and so removing them has left them less supported
- we removed all the lower level stones that were flush with the lower lawn. I have since read these are often places there to combat soggy ground that can form at base of garden stairs. These were also supported with 2x layers of buried stone.
All in all we are worried we may have undermined the stability of the whole staircase case.
Thes stairs are roughly 3m wide by 1.5m high. Riginal rise 18cm and run 45cm.
See 2 photos below.
Pix below: example of what we have in mind.
We are wondering if its ok to use existing stone risers and concrete one more layer in them followed by filling in tred with spoil and then grass seed.
Or should we start again... place gravel under each riser and then build on that.
And what should we do with the area at the bottom of the step? Was that probably supporting the whole thing? Do we need to re-do that too?
All advice and suggestions welcome.
Many thanks
