Okay guys, here is the deal. We have lived at our current residence for about 3 years. The house is on a severely sloped yard and has a rock retaining wall in the back. The steps started to break apart and I decided to tear most of it out last weekend.

I called a masonry worker out earlier today and he quoted me $2375. This is to get the steps to their original appearance which you can somewhat tell towards the top of the steps.

I don't want to hear about all of the weeds up there or anything else. I have completely neglected my backyard and it is time that I try to get it back in shape.

I would like to save as much money as possible on getting this fixed as I really don't spend much time back there. Is there anything that I can do myself to get this thing fixed. Just to have some working steps back there would work for me.

Thanks for any advice and I have attaced some pics...

For reference, the steps are about 4' wide and about 13' from the front to the back.

 

Hire some Mexicans. I know this one guy that's in the home remodeling/improvement business.

 

Hold on there, you were working outside last weekend breaking up rocks. You must hate yourself. I did not even like walking to the mailbox.

You can rent a concrete mixer and redo them yourself or just mix the mortor up in a wheelbarrow. It might take a while but would be pretty cheap. A bag of concrete mix is only a couple of bucks. You could use all the money you save to buy a lawn mower or one of Roaul's goats.

 

Yeah, there's no mowing up there, most of it is rocky as it is. I have to weed-eat that entire area and I promise that it is bigger than it looks in the picture.

Actually I broke those up a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty darn hot this past weekend.

Thanks for the suggestion, that is what I was thinking. The worst thing that could happen is that I do crappy work and have to tear it out and start over. I have plenty of rocks, would just have to buy the mortar mix. Maybe I can get my bro to give me a hand.

I will be sure to post pics when it is done.

 

How steep is the slope? How far does it drop from the front to the back?

What I am wondering is if you just pave it as a ramp?

Generally concrete stairs are cheaper than masonary steps.

 

If you are going to get anybody to work outside this time of year I would suggest bribing him with coolers full of cold beer. You are laying rocks, they will never be perfectly straight so even if he has a few too many no one will be able to tell.

 

Railroad ties may look kinda rustic with the rock wall. Cut them with a chainsaw and stick them in. This may require a little shovel work to keep them level.

 

I second the railroad ties. If you can't find any then DIY cement work is the way to go.

 

Railroad ties and some shovel work would look good..

But there must be quarries in your area and usually they will have pallets of cut stone for sale. Sorted by various sizes. Heavy freakin' work, by all means hire some wetbacks or bribe friends with cases of beer.. LOL..

But if y'all want stone try some quarries, much cheaper than going through some supplier who just buys it from the quarry to begin with.

 

Check with some of these guys that do the work. The often have slabs that are big enough for steps left over from other projects. 2-3' long, 8-10" deep, and 6" thick. Put them in. Solid granite would look fine instead of matching the current setup. And would look better and last far longer than railroad ties.

 

 

Hog Fan

IMO, those steps are unique. Why not try to work with them? Landscape the area around them to "bring them to life again"?

In this picture:



The steps still look in tact enough to still be used. The walk way can be done in amany ways, but that's up tp you...everyones taste is different. Hell, clean them up, plant some type of short growing shrubs or flowers around the edges, and use that to your advantage. $2375 is way too pricey (for my area anyway).

It might actually be a fun project, and you'll be surprised at how easy landscaping can be...hard work, but easy.

Now as far as the upper area....make it a garden. Plant elephant ears, caladium, etc. Make it look like a jungle. I'd have a field day with that yard.

Keep us up to date.

 

If I was doing t rom scratch i'd defiantly go the railroad tie steps route, but becasue you have 2 walls and 4 steps I'd try to redo them. The hardest part about it will be making the new steps and new mortor/concrete look like the old, blending it in.

 

Do the steps serve a "GOOD" purpose? it looks to me like they just go up to a fence... unless theres something there that the pictures don't show?

if they are not really needed, just pay some guy a couple hundred bucks to tear them out and grade the ground back over where they were. Then you just have to mow the grass.

 

I was just about to say... ^this^