Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #7: More On Steps

In the last post we looked at a set of steps with three treads:

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps,

 and this time let's look at a longer set of steps. 

Please refer to the previous post as some of the important fundamentals for steps 

that I included there will not be repeated here.

The posts to date in this continuing series for the owner builder are:

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools,

 Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #2: Getting Stone,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #3: Building The Wall,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Wall #4: Why They Work,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #5: Style,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps.

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps

In this post I want to go into how I build stone steps in the landscape

 as part of the dry stack stone walls that I have already shown.

We will look at how I selected and installed the three steps you see above.

For safety one should never attempt building steps, inside or out,

without a firm basis of the terms, theory, and practice of this craft.

There are many books which provide more detail

 or a search of the internet will yield many results.

The posts to date in this continuing series for the owner builder are:

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools,

 Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #2: Getting Stone,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #3: Building The Wall,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Wall #4: Why They Work,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #5: Style,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #7: More On Steps.

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools

This is the first in a series of tips on building dry stack stone retaining walls for landscaping,

gained from my personal experience and particularly aimed at the owner builder.

In future posts I will be discussing topics such as how to build durable walls and steps,

how to design the layout for a project, theory on dry stack walls, 

 stone as a material and what stone works best in each part of the project, site management,

and for this post we will look at the site and goal, and tools that will be needed.

The posts to date in this continuing series are:

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools,

 Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #2: Getting Stone,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #3: Building The Wall,
Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Wall #4: Why They Work,
Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #5: Style,
Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps,
Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #7: More On Steps.

 The photo above shows the finished project which gives you a feel for the scope of this work.

Onyx Steps In Catavina, Baja California

In the long lonely drive south from El Rosario, Baja California 

to Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur lies a magical land around the town of Cataviña

populated by boulders and cactus.

Stone Steps In Eureka Springs, Ark.

Eureka Springs has lots of stone

 and as a result it also has lots of stone steps.

Trail Work At Valley View Hot Springs

Allison and I found ourselves at Valley View Hot Springs 

in Colorado in 2009 volunteering to do some trail work

on a steep trail at about 9000' on the west slope

 of the Sangre De Cristo mountains. 

Above are Allison and a wonderful

 fellow, Rob Bob, who wanted to help and as Rob Bob goes by 

both names we affectionately combined them.

 He was a wonderful, fun person to work with 

in this strenuous, hard work and we all had a great time. 

Stone Steps #4

I have been gathering photos for stone steps 

and now is a good time to take a look.

Stairway To Mirador

In my walk abouts around Alamos, Sonora 

I noticed these guys working on this very nice stairway.

Stone Steps #3

What can I say?

 I love stone steps and I love building stone steps.

And here are more.

More Stone Steps

I would like to continue with a post I did on Stone Steps on March 7th.

 If you happen to be thinking of installing steps 

maybe these will give you some design ideas.

Free Form Stairway

I want to get back to stairways and one of the coolest 

I have seen lately is one that Andrew has built.

An Adobe Tower

I have wanted to build a tower for some time

 and I am not sure of the motivation, 

but my friend Andrew has already accomplished the feat. 

A Stairway

Years ago I built this stairway to the 2nd floor in an addition

 we built onto our 1st house in Santa Fe.

I am in the Thomas Jefferson school on stairways- 

make them as compact as possible.

Stone Steps

When I posted the blog on Trail Work ( February 25th )
 on adding stone steps to a steep trail I wanted to add a post on stone steps.
 Above are steps in the Glen Burnie Gardens ( which I blogged on
February 16th ) and you may have seen many times in these posts.

Trail Work

Allison and I found ourselves at Valley View Hot Springs 

in Colorado last summer volunteering to do some trail work.


(Please Note: To see an updated version of this post go to
Trail Work At Valley View Hot Springs.)