From Rock Supplier to Rack of Stairs

14 Oct From Rock Supplier to Rack of Stairs

At the Stoneyard

I really do get a lot of satisfaction out of building staircases out of natural stone.  Fortunately several factors are at work that help me have lots of opportunity to build them.  Primarily, Nancy likes to include them in her garden design plans.  Also, there’s a fantastic supplier to the East, in the  Cascade Mountain foothills who segregate the type of basalt rock that works really well to make the kind of rustic staircase that we like.  Add to this that our terrain in Seattle is hilly, so most projects have an opportunity to incorporate at least a few stone steps.  Finally, and this is really vital to our success, our youngest but most senior crew member is a whiz at fitting a jumbled pile of rocks into a sensible order.

first four out of 18

Aidan tackled todays stair project with ease.  These rocks were 300-400 pounds.  We place them by hand when the site is steep.

3,800 pounds of Huckleberry Basalt risers.

These stairs will allow the family to access their yard.  Currently it’s a lawn that gets mowed by a landscape maintenance crew,

but we’re getting rid of all the lawn and amending the soil and building big timber terraces out of a new locally sourced tree species that is naturally insect-resistant; Juniper wood.  Maybe I’ll write a blog entry about that product next.

Thanks for reading.