New Front Stair Ideas

[firefighter ontheside]

My front porch is about 24" tall and needs some new steps going up.  The porch is just a regular framed deck with cedar deck boards.  The steps are made from some ERC that I slabbed with a chainsaw 20 years ago.  They are on their last legs at best and need to be replaced soon.  I thought of some sort of stone steps, but that may be more work than I want and how to marry that to wood.  Of course I can mill up a cedar log and basically recreate what I have.  They are not fancy.  I just lagged the treads through the stringers and screwed the whole thing to the porch.  The stringers just rest on some landscape stones at the bottom.  Does anyone have any suggestion for something better?  I asked my wife and she said something that's not slippery when wet and good for clearing snow from.  The cedar gets a little slick when wet or frosty.


 

[beenthere]

I like just what you have. Fits well with the rest of the "scenery". IMO cannot improve it. 

[firefighter ontheside]

I do still like how they look.  I really need to trim the boxwood back some more so you can see the stringers.

[SawyerTed]

+1 on something similar but with a non-skid finish.  Some type of clear or translucent finish with non-skid grit mixed in might work. 

[bluthum]

I like the idea of redoing like the original design with fresh material. 20 years isn't bad, if you coated the new cedar with copper napthenate you might even get more life. Any wood I know of can be slick when wet especially after it gets algae growing on top it. Some sort of nonskid scheme is a good idea.

 Treated dimension wood is a lot less labor of course but the modern stuff might not outlast cedar. Stone can be a tricky detail where it contacts the wood and would be more labor even if you had some big dry stackable slabs because it needs a footing.

One thing I see is it appears the bottom tread is really low to the ground, it should be a normal step height and of course all riser heights the same. If the deck is 24" high that could be 2 8" steps which is a tad taller than advised, building up the landing to a total rise of 3x 7.5 would make it a little more user friendly.   Of course I could be misinterpreting the picture. Also I find handrails more appealing as I age, you could figure out an appealing design for that I'm sure.    

[Brad_bb]

yeah,  the boxwoods are overgrowing.  might want to take them out and do some different plantings.  open up stairs a little.  

[firefighter ontheside]

Yeah, these stairs and the front walkway have evolved over time.  Originally we just had a walkway of gravel.  Then I put in these concrete slabs, which made that bottom step a little short compared to others.  I can fix that issue when I make then new steps.  I will cut the boxwoods back at least to the sides of the stairs.  They will look ugly for  a while as there will be no leaves on the sides.  Sometimes as the boxwoods put on new growth in the spring the porch gets a little "secret gardenish" as my wife calls it.  

[nopoint]

How about two pieces of some kind of ledge stone? Flat stone, whatever its called in your parts.
A big one on the bottom a slighlty smaller above. Most of us here at Forestry Forum are typically into wood, but stone has its place too. 

[Tom King]

Someone, at some time, will appreciate a handrail.

[firefighter ontheside]

Yeah, I thought about adding a handrail a few years ago, but never did.  If I rebuild just like they are now, I will definitely add a rail on one side.

[firefighter ontheside]

I started to trim the shrubs on each side of the steps and realized that I would have to remove the whole shrub on each side.  The remaining ones should fill in some next spring.  I've decided I'm going to build some little dividers of sorts on either side of the stairs.  I may attach handrails to them for the stairs.  Now I can have some room to work on the stairs.  Sure looks different after all the years of the shrubs covering up the sides.


 

[WV Sawmiller]

   This may be heresy but I'd build a ramp and have the appropriate rail. Make it non-skid.

[firefighter ontheside]

You heretic.  There shall be no ramp...until I need one.

I decided I should build the steps with cypress.  I wish I had decided that when I had a smaller log, but oh well.  I put a log that is 24" at small end and about 30" on big end on the mill.  I'm gonna have to do some chainsaw trimming before I can mill thru it because it is too tall.  I will use some side lumber to make the steps.


 

[firefighter ontheside]

The best thing about having a sawmill is that I can go from having a log in the morning to having a nice new set of stairs in the afternoon.  It's a good thing I replaced them too.  They were much more rotten than I realized. 


 

 

[beenthere]

That's a good start..  8)

[SawyerTed]

Nice!  Approved! :D