How to remove steps from garden

[M005]

We have steps down from our patio to the lawn, which the previous owners of the house had put in as the garden was sloped before.

With young children, the steps are a nightmare and I'd like to remove them.

What's the easiest way to do this without spending loads of cash?

I've had an indicative quote to build a retaining wall and infill the lawn area to the same height as the patio, whcih came to £25k ish

Someone else suggested building a fairly steep bank (where the two straight edges are ~ 1m each) and putting grass on top.

TIA.

[Don]

Are the steps the problem or the drop in height?

Steps you could box in with decking and build a slope.

If the drop is the problem the bank idea might work. They'll love rolling down it.

[shirt]

any pics?

[Laurel Green]

Put a slide in!

Or, some photos will help.

[netherfield]

This will sort it.
Gives hours of fun into the bargain.

[Chrisgr31]

I would have thought that with young children steps were safer than a retaining wall, presumablky falling over the edge of a wall would create a greater drop.

A cheaper alternative would be to put a temporay fence around the area and remove it once they are older!

[M005]

This shows one of the sets of steps down, these are ~6ft wide and are the least used as they are at one end of the patio.



This shows the view from the lawn ares over towards the narrower steps (~3ft wide) that are mainly used and shows the slight slope that still exists. The height to the patio (behind the playhouse) is ~ 2.5ft ish)

[GKP]

Block off access to the top of the steps with pot plants or similar as a short term measure. Your children will grow up and be able to negotiate steps in no time at all.

[D1bram]

GKP said:

Block off access to the top of the steps with pot plants or similar as a short term measure. Your children will grow up and be able to negotiate steps in no time at all.

Pretty much what I was going to suggest, or a gate.

£25k is a huge amount of money to spend on solving this and you would never recoup that in terms of added value.

If you really want to alter something then go with the slope idea

[Davi]

GKP said:

Block off access to the top of the steps with pot plants or similar as a short term measure. Your children will grow up and be able to negotiate steps in no time at all.

^^^ this

Anything else is a waste of time / money, unless you don't like the steps and want rid of anyway! We had to do the opposite, install steps from the patio it the garden because of this "slight" 4m difference in height between the two



My 2 yr old can now navigate to steps we put in!

[M005]

The children justification is, if I'm honest, secondary, I really want rid of the steps because I dislike split level gardens.

The slope idea seems the most realistic, but still poses the issue of getting doen tot he grass easily / safely.

[Davi]

in which case its a weekends work, a skip hire and probably £500 will see it done!

ETA - one thing I think you will find, is a sloped garden is utter cack compared to a split level. I'm spending a fortune turning mine from a slope to a tiered garden. Slopes are virtually unusable by children or the old, so just look nice. The are a pain in the arse to mow or maintain too. Get a landscape gardener to come up with a more aesthetically pleasing split level design if I were you!

Edited by Davi on Friday 7th May 11:46

[russ_a]

We have a split level garden and a two year old. We had the top level next to the house decked and sectioned off from the grass. Then had a gate fitted to stop him going down the steps, though in a few months im sure he will take the gate off with a spanner!

This works well for us, as when it has rained a little he can still play outside on the deck and not get covered in mud.

[herbialfa]

Who quoted 25K????

Dick Turpin & sons??????

Kin Hell!

[M005]

Local firm, only one from 4 calls you could be bothered.

Garden would need ~ 100 cubic meters of dirt to bring it all level, aparently the fact that they can't just unload a tipper directly ontot he grass is a big factor, they would have to tip onto the drive and then move with a digger.

However, given that companies have to pay a lot to get rid of earth, I would have thought a token payment for the soil and just labour charges would se the job done??

[Bill]

A sloping garden will be a PITA and balls etc will always end up at the bottom. Why not put a slide on the steps (or in place of) for you the kids to use?

[Engineer1]

If you bring the lawn up to the height of the patio you will need a hell of a lot of soil and a retaining wall, now having stated the obvious I will add that you are likely to loose some privacy as your garden will potentially be 3ft higher than your neighbours who may object to a 9' wall or fence (when seen from their side) or you will get a 3' fence your side leaving the fence 6' their side.