With the height of summer upon us, we're cranking out the big projects. Right now we're working on a big dryset flagstone patio project, with some raised terraces, ultimately a fountain, some landscape lighting and a number of other accessories.
And as part of that project, it was necessary to install some steps to transition from the driveway grade to the patio grade, roughly a difference of about 24". And to accomplish that transition, the client opted to go with some natural blue stone steppers, each measuring 6' w x 6" h x 18"d.
So what are steppers, you may be asking yourself. Steppers, quite simply, are large solid chunks of stone that each serve as an individual step. That's right solid chunks of stone each measuring 6' w x 6" h x 18". Those are big stones.
And yesterday was the day. Four giant chunks of stone, each weighing approximately 800 lbs.
And we didn't even need any heavy equipment to move them. How, you may be asking yourself, does one move 800 pounds of solid stone without equipment? Well to be honest, "one" doesn't move 800 pounds of stone. It took four of us, and a time-proven method of rollers, planks, and leverage tools.
And as part of that project, it was necessary to install some steps to transition from the driveway grade to the patio grade, roughly a difference of about 24". And to accomplish that transition, the client opted to go with some natural blue stone steppers, each measuring 6' w x 6" h x 18"d.
So what are steppers, you may be asking yourself. Steppers, quite simply, are large solid chunks of stone that each serve as an individual step. That's right solid chunks of stone each measuring 6' w x 6" h x 18". Those are big stones.
And yesterday was the day. Four giant chunks of stone, each weighing approximately 800 lbs.
And we didn't even need any heavy equipment to move them. How, you may be asking yourself, does one move 800 pounds of solid stone without equipment? Well to be honest, "one" doesn't move 800 pounds of stone. It took four of us, and a time-proven method of rollers, planks, and leverage tools.
 Steppers are rolled into place on PVC pipes and planks |  The end result of a hard day's work. Cool, eh? |
Basically we leverage the stones up onto a series of 2" PVC pipes placed upon a series of planks. Once the stones are in place on the rollers, they actually glide across the planks relatively easily. As a pipe spits out the back end, we feed another one under the front, and so on and so on until they're in place.
The hardest part is for the upper steps, when we have to maneuver the stones in place up on top of the lower stones without scratching or scuffing the stones. Again, PVC pipes to the rescue. Just to make sure the stones don't scuff one another until they're dropped into place, we place a series of pipes lengthwise across the front edge of the riser of each stone in place. Then we (sort of) simply scoot the stone up the ramped pipes until it is on top of the steps where it needs to go. Remove the pipes, and voila, another step is in place.
It's hard not to feel like we're ancient Egyptians building the pyramids, or ancient Incans building Machu Pichu when using such basic techniques. But it works. And to be honest, it's quite satisfying when you pull it off.
The pictures above are from our work this week. Four steps, four guys, one day. Not too bad.
And this week's work got me to thinking about some other recent projects we've done using steppers. Not quite as big as the ones we did this week, but beefy pieces of stone nonetheless. Here's a few more pictures of stepper projects we've done this year.
The hardest part is for the upper steps, when we have to maneuver the stones in place up on top of the lower stones without scratching or scuffing the stones. Again, PVC pipes to the rescue. Just to make sure the stones don't scuff one another until they're dropped into place, we place a series of pipes lengthwise across the front edge of the riser of each stone in place. Then we (sort of) simply scoot the stone up the ramped pipes until it is on top of the steps where it needs to go. Remove the pipes, and voila, another step is in place.
It's hard not to feel like we're ancient Egyptians building the pyramids, or ancient Incans building Machu Pichu when using such basic techniques. But it works. And to be honest, it's quite satisfying when you pull it off.
The pictures above are from our work this week. Four steps, four guys, one day. Not too bad.
And this week's work got me to thinking about some other recent projects we've done using steppers. Not quite as big as the ones we did this week, but beefy pieces of stone nonetheless. Here's a few more pictures of stepper projects we've done this year.
 Bluestone Steppers with Paver Stone Walk |  Indiana Limestone Stepper with Finished Concrete Walk and Landing |
So I'll post some more pictures of our current project once we wrap things up over there. Probably a few more weeks still to go until everything is wrapped up.
But in the mean time I wanted to share our step progress with everyone, and show some of the capabilities that solid stone steppers can accomplish.
If you are interested in incorporating steppers into your hardscaping, give me a call or shoot me a line and I'll be happy to show off some more of our work. One step at a time, of course.
But in the mean time I wanted to share our step progress with everyone, and show some of the capabilities that solid stone steppers can accomplish.
If you are interested in incorporating steppers into your hardscaping, give me a call or shoot me a line and I'll be happy to show off some more of our work. One step at a time, of course.
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