Studio Side Steps Progress (DIY Steps With Retaining Wall Blocks And Pavers)

I read the comments. I considered the comments. I did a whole lot more research on my idea and the products I wanted to use. And I decided to forge ahead. I really love my idea, and even if it doesn’t work out in the end, I will have at least tried something new and learned a lot from it. And after Day 1 of working on this project, I’m even more determined and excited about these DIY steps. I didn’t get all of the first step finished, but I love the progress so far.

Here’s how I did it. First, I needed a pattern for the front curve of the steps. I want the overall width of the steps to be 60 inches, but I want the steps to over hand the risers by one inch on the sides and front. So I cut a scrap piece of plywood to 58 inches wide to use as the pattern.

Then I measured and marked six inches on each end of the plywood.

And then I clamped a piece of wood at that six inch mark on each side. I placed the wood piece to the side that would be cut off, not on the side that would remain as my pattern.

And then I used a thin, bendy scrap that I had cut off of something for a previous project (I found it in my discard pile) and placed it behind the clamped wood pieces and pulled it towards the front edge of the plywood piece right in the center (which I had measured and marked) to form a curve. And then I traced that curve onto the plywood.

And then I used my jigsaw to cut out the curve and cleaned up the cut with my rotary sander.

After marking and measuring the 58-inch width centered on the concrete pad and drawing the straight lines for the sides, I then placed my curved pattern at the front, set back an inch from where the concrete pad meets the driveway and lined up with the straight lines on the sides. And then I traced the curve onto the concrete.

Side note: I still need to waterproof that area where the siding is cut away. I have a plan for that, which I’ll have to do before I move on to the second step. But I knew the first step wouldn’t cover up any of that area, so I decided to do the step first since I was way more excited about working on the steps than I was about waterproofing that OSB. But don’t worry. It’ll get done.

And here’s the final shape traced onto the concrete pad.

I started laying out the retaining wall blocks along the front curve first. Once I had them arranged just right, I glued them into place using an exterior polyurethane adhesive.

The reason I decided to use polyurethane adhesive instead of mortar is because I did quite a bit of research and reading on this, and I came across a few websites where people can ask “pros” for input, and several of those pros made a very convincing argument that the adhesive is a better option than mortar because polyurethane adhesive isn’t rigid when it’s dry and cured. It can expand and contract and remain a bit pliable through the seasons, where mortar dries very hard and rigid and doesn’t have any give to it, so it can start to crack through the seasons.

Once I had the front curve in place, I needed to cut two blocks to start the side runs on either side. I used my handheld grinder with a masonry disc on it for this. After drawing my cut line on the top and bottom of the block, I used my grinder to score the cut line all the way across. This is another trick I learned from a pro. He said never try to cut at the full depth all way across on the first pass. Always make a score line first, and then go back with several passes until you reach the full depth of the cut.

I cut the block on top as deep as my grinder would go, and then I flipped the block over and cut on the bottom as deep as I could. It still didn’t get all the way through, but with a couple of firm taps with a hammer, the excess came off rather easily. And then I used my grinder to clean up the cut before putting it into place.

And then I continued on with the sides. I dry fit everything first, and once I had them where I wanted them, I went back and glued them down with the polyurethane adhesive. And then I repeated that process on the other side.

With the outer shape of the first riser in place, I worked on the pavers for the first step while the polyurethane adhesive set. I lined up five concrete pavers, and then used a straight edge (a 1″ x 4″ piece of lumber) to make sure they were perfectly lined up.

I only had time to try out the first method yesterday, so I cut as deep as I could with my grinder, and then used a hammer to knock off the excess.

That didn’t work because the uncut part that came off was quite a bit further into the paver than the cut part. If it had left excess, I could use a concrete grinding/polishing disc to grind away the excess. But since it took off too much, there was no way to get the edge smooth.

So I tested one more. This time, I cut as deep as I could with my grinder, and then instead of using the hammer on the cut side, I flipped it over and used the hammer on the uncut side to break away the excess. This actually worked! I can’t explain the physics of it, but it just made sense in my mind that hitting the uncut side would leave excess instead of breaking away too much. And it worked on all five pavers. What’s left can be easily cleaned up with a concrete grinding/polishing disc on my grinder.

I didn’t get to test my idea because by that point, it was too dark to see clearly enough to test out my idea. But I did put them into place to see the overall shape and design.

And because I was curious, I went ahead and put more of the pavers in place. None of the pavers are adhered in place yet. I want to wait until I have those front pavers worked out before any of them get adhered into place. I still want to try out option 2 for cutting those front pavers (i.e, cutting from both sides) to see which one I like better. But either method is going to require a concrete grinding/polishing disc once the pavers are cut.

I was surprised at how flat all of the pavers were, with one exception. This front paver has a little bit of a lip on it, but I’ll just remove the paver, find the high spot on the retaining wall block, grind it away, and place the paver back in place.

I also want to cut these blocks that are being used as the inside support in half before I adhere them into place. In their full size, I find it hard to put them exactly where I need them. With them cut in half, I’ll have a lot more flexibility in placing them in the exact right spot. But again, I ran out of daylight before I could get that done yesterday.

But I have to tell you, I’m very excited about how this is looking. And I can envision the other two steps, and I think it’ll look great. You’re welcome to disagree with me, of course. 🙂 But we can agree to disagree on this one. I think it’s going to look really nice.

If all of my measurements work out (and there’s no reason they shouldn’t), the steps will be 12 inches deep, 5.5 inches high, the top landing will be 30 inches deep, and the whole thing will be 60 inches wide. That’s how I planned it since the day this concrete pad was poured.

We’ll see how much I can get accomplished this weekend. I haven’t even checked the weather, so hopefully my progress I won’t be delayed by rain.