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A Grand Entrance 11/17/2011
11 Comments
 
Picture
Since we bought the house, I've wanted to replace the steps that lead down to our front door. They were wood resting on dirt -- never a good idea. To add insult to potential injury, the top of the stairs were actually railroad ties that were loose, as was the railing next to them. The ties made a 90 degree turn to the wooden steps which made it extremely difficult to carry large items, like refrigerators and couches, down them. While we may not purchase those types of items very often, it's made me fear for the safety of delivery men and women whenever we've received a heavy item. Plus, I was fearful for our visitors' safety.

Picture
Today I'm as giddy as can be because we have new, gorgeous, permanent stairs. Locals, American Concrete Pumping did them, and they're wonderful! John King had so many great ideas for how to make the steps more functional. He added landings and softened the curve up the slope. Plus, the stairs now are further out, so I'll have a lot more garden space come spring.

My Charles and I did the demo work, as you can see in the slide show below. It was a pretty easy demo job. It took about two hours. The only issue was the scorpion (!) that we encountered when digging out the last of the ties and first of the wooden steps.

All in all, I'm ecstatic. The new stairs are pretty, more functional, safer, will be easier to climb in the snow, and I love the gray. When we paint the house gray this next year, it will tie in beautifully. Yay concrete stairs!                                .

 


Comments

Ryan Burns
11/17/2011 16:18

Nice! Looks like a step in the right direction. (Sorry.)

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Jan Webb
11/17/2011 19:00

Yippee skippy!!! xoxo

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Eryn
11/17/2011 19:03

wow! huge difference, looks great

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Mellisa link
11/17/2011 19:12

Thank you, everyone. @Ryan -- ba dum, ching! ;)

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Mellisa link
11/17/2011 19:16

One other thing I forgot to mention was that they incorporated rocks into some of the design which is lovely. It makes the stairs feel like a piece of the landscape as well as looking darn cool.

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La
11/18/2011 00:26

Did I see a walkway for Bodie and a doggy door in those pictures?

Also will there be a hand rail added, or is it unnecessary?

They look absolutely gorgeous and very nice! :D

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Mellisa link
11/18/2011 06:43

No doggy door for the pup. In this area, that invites racoons into the house. We are going to gate off that front area of the deck and put chicken wire around the inside of the deck (temporarily, until we redo the deck itself) so that Bodie has full run of it as well as his yard.

We will put in a railing, on the opposite side of where it was before. I think it's required to be in compliance. We're going to do a wooden railing and incorporate the oak next to the stairs into it. Hopefully, it will look really cool when we're done.

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Mellisa link
11/18/2011 06:49

La, were you referring to the brown door and the drop off from it? I called that our Winchester Mystery House door. It's on the side of the house, and when we moved in, it didn't have any stairs down to the ground. American Concrete Pumping made a small landing at that door with stairs, so we no longer have a plummet. The rocks they incorporated into the landing there look really cool.

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Rose Arsenith
11/18/2011 11:09

Awesome! They looked way better than I pictured, beautiful.

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La
11/19/2011 12:44

Oh yeah that is the brown door. haha

I think I just figured it was a doggy door because of the boards they have over it running to the rocks...kind of like a dog run. How silly!

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Mellisa link
11/19/2011 12:53

Thanks, Rose! The next time you house sit, oh how safe you shall be. :)

La, that was a legitimate question. The boards were so we could walk in the house while the concrete was curing.

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