Well, it seems my idea to DIY the steps to the side door of the studio went over like a lead balloon. I read all the comments and have to admit I was very surprised when everyone said, “This is not a DIY project. You’ll have to rent this out. Leave it to the professionals.”
I have read the comments. I’ve been thinking about the comments. I did a lot more research on my idea and the products I wanted to use. And I decided to move on. I really love my idea and even if it doesn’t end up working out, at least I tried something new and learned a lot from it. And after the first day of working on this project, I am even more determined and excited about these DIY steps. I haven’t fully completed the first step yet, but I’m thrilled with the progress so far.
That’s how I did it. First I needed a pattern for the front curve of the steps. I want the total width of the treads to be 60 inches, but I want the treads on the sides and front to extend beyond the risers by 1 inch. So I cut a piece of plywood 58 inches wide to use as a pattern.
Then I measured and marked 15cm on each end of the plywood.
And then I clamped a piece of wood to the 15cm mark on each side. I placed the piece of wood on the side that was going to be cut off, not the side that was left as a pattern.
And then I used a thin, flexible scrap that I had cut off of something for a previous project (I found it in my discard pile), placed it behind the clamped pieces of wood, and pulled it toward the front edge of the plywood piece right in the middle (which I had measured and marked) to form a curve. And then I transferred this curve to the plywood.
And then I cut out the curve with my jigsaw and smoothed the cut with my rotary sander.
After marking and measuring the 58″ width at the center of the concrete slab and drawing the straight lines for the sides, I then placed my curved pattern in the front, setting it back an inch from where the concrete slab meets the driveway and aligning it with the straight lines on the sides. And then I transferred the curve to the concrete.
Side note: I still need to waterproof the area where the paneling is cut away. For this I have a plan that I need to implement before moving on to the second step. But I knew the first step wouldn’t cover that area, so I decided to do that step first since I enjoyed working on the steps a lot more than sealing the OSB. But don’t worry. It will be done.
And here is the final shape transferred to the concrete slab.
I first started by laying the retaining wall blocks along the front curve. After arranging them just right, I glued them in place with a polyurethane exterior adhesive.
The reason I chose to use polyurethane adhesive instead of grout is because I did a lot of research and reading about it and came across a few websites where you can ask “professionals” for advice, and several of those professionals made a very convincing argument that the adhesive is a better option than grout because polyurethane adhesive is not rigid when dry and cured. It can expand and contract and remain somewhat pliable over the seasons, with mortar drying very hard and stiff with no give, so cracking may occur over the seasons.
After I finished the front curve, I had to cut two blocks to start the side runs on either side. I used my hand grinder with a stone wheel on it to do this. After drawing my cut line at the top and bottom of the block, I scored the cut line the entire length with my sander. This is another trick I learned from a pro. He said that you should never try to cut full depth on the first pass. Always create a score line first and then go back in several passes until you reach the full cutting depth.
I cut the top of the block as deep as my grinder would reach, and then I turned the block over and cut the bottom as deep as I could. It still wasn’t all the way through, but with a few good hits of the hammer the excess came off pretty easily. And then I cleaned the cut with my sander before attaching it.
And then I continued with the pages. I dry fitted everything first, and once I had them where I wanted them, I went back and glued them in place with the polyurethane glue. And then I repeated this process on the other side.
Once the exterior form of the first riser was in place, I worked on the pavers for the first riser while the polyurethane adhesive cured. I lined up five concrete pavers and then used a straight edge (a 1″ x 4″ piece of wood) to make sure they were perfectly aligned.
And then I used my curve pattern to draw the curve across the pavers.
One thing I should have done was to use my grinder to carve the curved shape into all five pavers while they were still together so that the cut was even from paver to paver. But I forgot that, so I took each paver one by one to my work area and scored and cut them.
Here I decided to experiment a little. Since these pavers are inexpensive, I decided I could leave a few out for this experiment. I wanted to see which method would work better and had several options. First I could cut one side to the full depth my sander would reach and then knock off the excess with a hammer. The second method I could use is to trace the pattern on both sides of the pavers and then use my grinder to cut one side, flip it over and cut the other side. The second method would give me a complete cut, but the first method (if it worked) would be much easier.
I only had time to try the first method yesterday, so I cut as deep as I could with my grinder and then knocked off the excess with a hammer.
This didn’t work because the uncut part that came off was much further into the pavement than the cut part. If there was any excess material left, I could sand it off with a concrete grinding/polishing wheel. But since it lifted too much, there was no way to get the edge smooth.
So I tested another one. This time I cut as deep as I could with my grinder, and instead of using the hammer on the cut side, I flipped it over and used the hammer on the uncut side to break off the excess. That actually worked! I can’t explain the physics, but it just made sense to me that when you hit the uncut side, excess material would be left behind rather than too much breaking away. And it worked on all five pavers. What’s left is easily removed with a concrete grinding/polishing wheel on my grinder.
I couldn’t test my idea because it was too dark at that point to see clearly enough to test my idea. But I attached them to see the overall shape and design.
And because I was curious, I added more pavers. None of the paving stones are stuck in place yet. I want to wait until I finish the front pavers before gluing them in place. I still want to try option 2 for cutting these front pavers (i.e. cutting both sides) to see which I like better. However, both methods require a grinding/polishing wheel for the concrete after cutting the pavers.
I was surprised at how flat all of the pavers were, except for one. This front paver has a small lip, but I simply remove the paver, find the high spot on the retaining wall block, sand it away, and put the paver back in place.
I also want to cut these blocks that will serve as internal support in half before gluing them in place. At their full size, I find it difficult to place them exactly where I need them. Cutting them in half gives me a lot more flexibility to place them in exactly the right place. But again, I ran out of daylight yesterday before I could do it.
But I have to tell you, I’m very excited to see what that looks like. And I can imagine the other two steps and think it will look great. Of course you are welcome to contradict me. But we can agree to disagree on this issue. I think it will look really nice.
If all my measurements are correct (and there is no reason why they shouldn’t be), the steps are 12 inches deep, 5.5 inches high, the top landing is 30 inches deep, and the whole thing is 60 inches wide. That’s what I’ve been planning since the day that concrete slab was poured.
We’ll see how much I can achieve this weekend. I haven’t even checked the weather yet, so I’m hoping my progress isn’t delayed by rain.
I really want to finish these this weekend (or try my best to accomplish that goal) because I have an idea for the porch. As I mentioned in a previous post, the goal is to coordinate the three areas with steps, and the way I want to connect the porch to those steps is to use a stone look on the porch baseboard that matches the risers on those steps. And I think I now have an idea on how to do this, so I really want to complete these steps so I can test my idea. I’ll work as quickly as I can and we’ll see what progress I made on Monday.
