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About This Project
Stonework doesn’t have to be complex or require special masonry skills. In most regions, you can buy flat flagstones that you can easily lay for paths and stack for solid stairs. We’ll show you how to plan, lay out and build a set of natural stone steps using flat flagstones for the treads and solid blocks of stone, called wallstone, for the risers.
Our steps are built on a gradual slope, but by changing the riser and tread sizes you can build them on slopes as steep as about 40 degrees. Rustic steps like these are well suited for informal garden paths like ours, but we wouldn’t recommend them for entry or other steps that get heavy daily use.
In addition to the basic gardening tools, leather gloves and carpenter’s level, you’ll need a few special tools for breaking and moving stone. Buy a 4-lb. maul for about $8 to chip and break stone. If you have to cut a few stones, buy a dry-cut diamond blade, available at home centers for $40. To move the stone, rent ($12 per day) or buy ($40 to $100) a two-wheeled dolly with large wheels.
Project Facts- COST: $1,800 (5-1/2 tons of stone)
- TIME: 2 or 3 weekends
- SPECIAL SKILLS: None
- SPECIAL TOOLS: Two-wheeled dolly, diamond blade, 4-lb. maul
- LOCATION: Slopes to 40 degrees
- Dry-laid stone (no mortar)
- No complex step calculations
- Basic tools
- Easy to adapt to your own yard
Stone Steps Don’t Have To Be Exact
Make a rough sketch of the plans for your steps,
including the approximate number of risers and any retaining walls you might
have to build.
Begin by measuring the total horizontal distance the stair will travel along a level line. This is called the “run” of the stair. Then measure down from this level line to determine the total vertical distance, or “rise.” Your goal is to arrive at a set of comfortable steps with rises of 6 to 8 in. and treads at least 12 in. deep.
First figure out how many step risers you’ll need. Gentle slopes like ours require short risers and long treads, while steep slopes require taller risers (up to a maximum of 8 in. and short treads). If your hill has both steep and gentle slopes, break it up into sections and calculate the step layout separately for each area. Divide the total rise by about 6 in. for shallow slopes, up to a maximum of 8 in. for steep slopes, to arrive at the approximate number of risers. In our case, the total rise was 29 in. Dividing by 6 yielded 4.83,which we rounded up to 5 risers.
Subtract 1 from the number of risers to determine the number of treads. Then divide the total run by this number to arrive at the depth of each tread. We divided the total run of 145 in. by 4 treads to arrive at a tread depth of a little more than 36 in. Using this information, mark the location of each stair riser on the ground with spray paint.
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