Side Steps

The Temple is now perched on a fairly (for foot-traffic) steep promontory and it was becoming tedious clambering up and down slippery slopes to get to most of it.

So we decided to build some steps to make things easier - this is what they looked like after the elderflowers reclaimed their space.

The hill side was steep and we wanted to do minimal damage to tree roots in the area so we developed a new (for us) technique.

Laying them out

The route was down a steep slope between established trees with no access for machinery or such.

Timber was the obvious solution but we wanted something more permanent for this climate.

And so we developed a new approach to steps - new to us at least - using concrete.

Rather than constructing some massive formwork to pour concrete risers and treads in one go, we thought it would be better to build each step separately.

The hill pins

Using conduit (electrical) rather than string, let us allow for moving the locations to avoid tree roots.

Once we had the path fixed we drilled 2 X 100mm holes to locate the ends of each riser.

These would fix the steps to the hillside with minimal interference to tree roots and would not be threatened by root growth.

We then filled them with concrete, extending them to the height of the riser with PVC sewer pipe and rebar which extended 100-150 mm beyond the concrete..

The risers

Once the pins were in place we built tapered (for easy removal) form work for pouring the risers.

The protruding sections of rebar were bent horizontal and tied together with another length of rebar which fitted inside the form work.

The form work was lined with plastic (to aid removal), placed over this reinforcing metal and held in place with stakes, clamps, bricks, wedges, string and anything else which would serve.

The string lines were about all we had as a guide to the height and corners of the steps.

They meet in the middle

As always the form work was unwieldy and temperamental when empty, but once filled with wet cement it became solid and stable - so long as it was in the right position when the concrete went in - and it didn't move - it was a relatively straightforward process.

In true "there's got to be a harder way" fashion, we used 2 sets of form work and started from the top and the bottom simultaneously so that we could do 2 pours daily and thus halve the period it took to construct the risers.

The steps met perfectly in the middle; the risers looked lovely , seemingly perched on the slope.

The Treads

The next task was to create a space which we could fill with something suitable (in the event we used crusher dust) for walking on which would drain well and be a good surface for feet and shoes.

The side of the step cavities were filled with empty champagne bottles - of which we had a large amount, but that's another story - and mortar.

Once again we were delighted with the versatility and ease-of-use of the inexpensive construction method in the most awkward of places.

The steps complete

And here they are the completed steps, waiting for the addition of crusher dust and a minimal amount of tamping to deliver a safe and effective passage down a steep slope.

Although labour intensive (all the concrete was carried down the slope in metal buckets) the total cost was under $150 for materials, the tree roots were largely undisturbed and we cut the distance to our nursery by 75%.

Each day we spent about 3 hours on the steps and then could focus our energies on the business again. It became a very productive and constructive work pattern.