Steps
To
Heaven

The garden steps were lethal. They tilted skyward and chunks of concrete had gone AWOL. Meaning I either leapt over them or risked a snapped ankle and concussion. It was time to repair, but the 4k+ professional fix em quotes were so expensive. My inner DIY junkie came to the rescue. I hit Google. prowled 'how to build garden steps' vids, picked Pete’s brain (wood wizard at Hudson Hardware), bought a gazillion 5x5’s, some unsexy goggles and rented a Hilti. I stared down. Just don’t remove your toes Caro. Jack hammering eight concrete steps was harder than I’d expected. Especially in a + 30 degrees heatwave. It took a bit of trial & error to find my demo groove (chip, fissure, breakaway) but 2 days later these mean old steps were history. Bags of rubble and stone were everywhere, so I hired a strapping young lad who for 100$ cash dragged them away.

Next is was time to excavate the gluttonous soil, thick roots and moon-sized rocks. OMG brutal labour. I think I lost 5lbs just hauling and bagging it all up. Can I say how much I love my Robi drill. So the fun bit was assembling the timber frames in to big U frames, and then trying (not so much fun) to make them all sit perfectly level in the excavated soil. Sigh. I suppose I got it 90% right. Next I laid new pavers inside the frames. A bit of a puzzle (& many pinched fingers) but once in they looked pretty damn sweet. It all turned out better as I imagined, an organically integrated staircase that my inner princess could glide up or down upon safely. Anyways, it’s certainly easier to bring in the groceries now.