Backyard Steps – Part 1

For a couple of years now, “rebuild the back[yard] steps” has been on my projects list:

In early May I finally got around to starting the project and when I pulled the top step away from the wall I knew I had to elevate the job to our local handyman.  Because rot:

       

SO much rot

       

And obvious critter holes into the basement:

I started pulling some of the rot away with a hammer:

       

To see how deep it went:

       

Pretty damn deep:

       

So I put the top step back on and emailed the handyman:

       

He came over last month and took some [socially distanced from me] photos and sent us an estimate.  He’s planning to start next week – hooray!  He’ll be replacing everything from the door sill down and building us a nice set of steps.  He’s the one that built our front stoop.

Since then I’ve stapled wire mesh [aka hardware cloth] over the rotted areas and holes:

        

And filled the area in as much as I could with bricks, rocks, and dirt:

       

To keep the critters out of the basement:

        

For now, it will do:

I’ve also asked him if he can extend the bottom step out longer, to meet the [fake] grass.  I think that would look nice:

       

I heard back from him after writing this post and he’s on board to extend the lower step out to meet the grass.  So it will be top step, platform step, ground.  Hooray!  I’m trying to cover as much of the ugly gravel as I can with fake grass from Amazon [#affiliate].