Outdoor steps
Steps your feet can walk without looking
Walking up a set of steps is something your body does on autopilot. After the first two steps your legs have measured the rise and they stop paying attention. That is why an uneven step is dangerous out of all proportion to how wrong it looks: everybody catches a toe on the one that is a half inch different, usually the last one at the top.
So the whole job is laid out on paper before anything is dug. We measure the total height from the bottom landing to the top, divide it into equal risers, and then set the run of each tread so the flight feels comfortable rather than cramped. Outdoors, a lower rise and a deeper tread reads better than an indoor staircase does, and the run can change the shape of the whole slope.
Most of our steps are part of a bigger job: a front entry, a path splitting two levels, or a slope that also needs a wall to hold the bank on one or both sides.
Why do bullnose units make such a difference?
A bullnose unit is a step paver with one rounded, finished edge, made to be the nose of the tread. It matters for two reasons. A square cut edge chips, because the nose of a step is the most abused inch of any hardscape, taking every heel, every dropped tool and every stroller wheel. A rounded nose takes that punishment without breaking away.
The second reason is that you can see it. A defined nose casts a shadow line, and that line is how your eye picks out the edge of each step in low light or in the rain. We usually set the nose to overhang the riser slightly to sharpen that shadow, and on a front entry we run a low voltage light or two into the wall beside the flight, with the sleeves in before the paving closes over them.
Purpose made step units rather than cut down pavers are standard on the block and stone work we build into a slope, because the nose is the part that has to last.
What is under each tread?
Its own base. Outdoor steps are built into the slope, not sat on top of it, so we cut the hillside into a series of level shelves and build each one properly. Topsoil comes out first, because organic material holds water and settles, and nothing that is meant to stay level should ever bear on it. The step and wall units we lay as a Master Craftsman are built for this kind of stacked construction.
Each shelf gets compacted aggregate, placed in lifts rather than dumped in one go, then the riser course is set and the tread bedded on it. That is why a flight built this way stays even years later while a flight stacked straight onto dirt develops a wobble in the middle. It is the same discipline that goes under a paver patio, just repeated once for every step in the flight.
Get a free estimate on your outdoor steps
Even rise and run, a base under every tread. Family owned, with a 20 year warranty on every installation.
Call (650) 705-0628How do steps and walls work together on a slope?
On a steep lot they are one structure. Cutting a flight into a bank leaves soil standing on both sides of it, and that soil has to be held by something, so the cheek walls beside the steps are doing real retaining work rather than decoration. We build them with the same pad, batter and drainage as any other wall, which on a Hillsborough hillside is most of the job.
Hillside properties out here almost always end up like this: a flight of steps, a wall either side, a landing partway up to break the climb, and drainage crossing behind all of it so winter water never sits against the back of the risers. Planned together, the slope ends up usable instead of just navigable.
The flat terrace those walls create is usually where a fire pit and some seating ends up going, so we work out the levels for both at the same time.
Why choose Exterior Designs for your outdoor steps?
Steps are where sloppy work shows up fastest, because you use them with your feet every single day. We lay them out first, build a base under every tread, keep the rise identical from the bottom to the top, and finish the noses with proper bullnose units instead of cut edges.
We are an ICPI Certified Paver Installer and a Belgard Master Craftsman, family owned and operated, working only in interlocking pavers and natural stone. Every installation carries a 20 year warranty and estimates are free. If a flight at your place is uneven, crumbling or just in the wrong place, get a free estimate on the flight and we will measure the slope and show you what it should be.
Ask a paver installer
Straight answers about paver installation on the Peninsula
What is a comfortable rise and run for garden steps?
Outdoors, a lower rise and a deeper tread feels much better than an indoor staircase. What matters more than the exact numbers is that every step in the flight is identical, including the first and the last, because that is where people trip.
Can you fix an existing set of uneven steps?
Usually the fix is a rebuild rather than a repair. Uneven risers mean the layout was wrong or the base has settled, and neither can be patched from the top. We take the flight out, cut proper shelves and reset it.
Are paver steps slippery when they are wet?
They have far more grip than a smooth poured surface, because the units have texture and the joints break up the face. Shaded damp corners can grow algae over time, so we look at drainage and shade when setting them out.
Do outdoor steps need a handrail?
It depends on the height of the flight and where it sits, and the building department is the authority rather than us. We build in the posts or the core holes while the steps go in, which beats drilling into finished work later.
Can steps be curved instead of straight?
Yes, and on a wide slope a curve often looks and walks better than a straight run. Curved flights use more cuts and more layout time, and the cheek walls either side follow the same radius, so we mark the shape out first.
Do you build outdoor steps outside San Carlos?
Yes. We work right across the Peninsula, including Burlingame, Hillsborough, Belmont, San Mateo, Redwood City, Menlo Park and Atherton. The hilly towns are where most of our step work is, and every estimate is free.