After researching how to build steps up a slope or hill, I was unsatisfied with the lack of detail on instructions or the presentation of information in a step-by-step format with related pictures or videos. This is my attempt to provide that as we build our own steps to solve a drainage issue.
I hope you will learn something from my posts, or at least laugh at my mistakes so that your project will go perfectly smooth.
Day 1: The first related project that we tackled was a terraced drainage wall in the front yard. We put sod above and a rock garden below, and it seems to be working well so far in holding some of the water coming from the rest of the neighborhood to straight under our rental townhouse. The one bad thing about rock gardens in this area is that leaves will get in there and diminish the effect. Oh, well. It would have been too soggy for grass.
Picture of 1st terrace in front yard complete:
On to step 2 - the side yard where a lot of the water drains, or should drain, to the back yard instead of under the house.
Pic of side yard:
We put in some sod and began to transplant cast iron plant and walking iris from our yard to the side yard of the townhouse (see back left of picture above). A lot of water comes through here, however, so we want to use this natural drainage area to accommodate it without getting gullies. Our strategy is to build landscape timber steps that are terraced into the slope, with gravel between to filter the water runoff more gradually.
After reading about landscape timber steps, I assumed I would be using 6X6 boards. I priced them today, however, and found them to be expensive - >$22 for one 8' board! I then went to measure my project area and found that it is not as long as I thought, or as steep, and I think I can get away with 4X4 timbers, which are <$10 per 8' board.
Terminology: "Rise" is the height of the step and refers to the board you step onto. "Tread refers to the depth of the step. I call the side boards the "tread boards."
I used these cheap garden stakes to do my measurements for calculations. That was dumb - get normal stakes - you only need 1 tall one for the bottom of the slope where your steps will end to measure the height of the total project rise. The other stakes can be very short.
To figure out how many steps you need, as well as how long to make your tread (the depth of the step), this is what you do:
1. Put a short stake at the top end of the project and tie a string to the bottom of that stake.
2. Put a long stake at the bottom of the slope where project will end and tie the other end of the string to the approximate height of where the other end of the string is.
3. Put on a string level (they only cost <$3 at Lowe's) and adjust the height of the string at the low end of your project until the bubble is in the middle.
4. Measure the tall stake at bottom of hill from the ground up to the string to see the height of the rise in inches (see below). Mine was only 13 inches - much shorter than I thought! My slope is not that steep - it just channels the water.
5. Measure the length of the string from the top stake at the upper end of project to the stake at the bottom of the hill where you want the steps to end (see below), including any curves you may take. Of course I want curves - why make things easy!
6. Calculate the number of steps you will need by dividing the height of the total project rise by the height of the board you will use for a step. In my case, 13 inches divided by a board that is 4 inches thick = 3.5 steps (most people use a 6" board for bigger projects). I am going to round it up to 4 steps by burying my bottom step a little.
7. Calculate the length of the treads by dividing the length of the project in inches by the number of steps. Mine was 150" long (12.6 feet), and I divided by the 4 steps to get a length of 37.5 inches (roughly 4 feet) for each tread. That will make it easy - each step will be 4 feet wide and 4 feet deep - a perfect "U" shape. Here is a rough picture, along with some price estimates that equate to $56.22 for my wood to build all 4 of these very deep (4') steps.
I can't wait for Saturday when we will go and get the wood to start construction!
I hope you will learn something from my posts, or at least laugh at my mistakes so that your project will go perfectly smooth.
Day 1: The first related project that we tackled was a terraced drainage wall in the front yard. We put sod above and a rock garden below, and it seems to be working well so far in holding some of the water coming from the rest of the neighborhood to straight under our rental townhouse. The one bad thing about rock gardens in this area is that leaves will get in there and diminish the effect. Oh, well. It would have been too soggy for grass.
Picture of 1st terrace in front yard complete:
On to step 2 - the side yard where a lot of the water drains, or should drain, to the back yard instead of under the house.
Pic of side yard:
We put in some sod and began to transplant cast iron plant and walking iris from our yard to the side yard of the townhouse (see back left of picture above). A lot of water comes through here, however, so we want to use this natural drainage area to accommodate it without getting gullies. Our strategy is to build landscape timber steps that are terraced into the slope, with gravel between to filter the water runoff more gradually.
After reading about landscape timber steps, I assumed I would be using 6X6 boards. I priced them today, however, and found them to be expensive - >$22 for one 8' board! I then went to measure my project area and found that it is not as long as I thought, or as steep, and I think I can get away with 4X4 timbers, which are <$10 per 8' board.
Terminology: "Rise" is the height of the step and refers to the board you step onto. "Tread refers to the depth of the step. I call the side boards the "tread boards."
I used these cheap garden stakes to do my measurements for calculations. That was dumb - get normal stakes - you only need 1 tall one for the bottom of the slope where your steps will end to measure the height of the total project rise. The other stakes can be very short.
To figure out how many steps you need, as well as how long to make your tread (the depth of the step), this is what you do:
1. Put a short stake at the top end of the project and tie a string to the bottom of that stake.
2. Put a long stake at the bottom of the slope where project will end and tie the other end of the string to the approximate height of where the other end of the string is.
3. Put on a string level (they only cost <$3 at Lowe's) and adjust the height of the string at the low end of your project until the bubble is in the middle.
7. Calculate the length of the treads by dividing the length of the project in inches by the number of steps. Mine was 150" long (12.6 feet), and I divided by the 4 steps to get a length of 37.5 inches (roughly 4 feet) for each tread. That will make it easy - each step will be 4 feet wide and 4 feet deep - a perfect "U" shape. Here is a rough picture, along with some price estimates that equate to $56.22 for my wood to build all 4 of these very deep (4') steps.
I can't wait for Saturday when we will go and get the wood to start construction!
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