Outdoor Staircases

Outdoor Staircases

Step up your landscape. We build safe, comfortable stairs to connect every level of your property.

Good outdoor stairs feel invisible: you climb them without thinking. That comfort comes from consistent rise and run. Every step in a run should match its neighbours closely, because even a small variation from one tread to the next is exactly where people catch a toe and stumble. We measure the total vertical drop first, divide it into equal risers, then set the tread depth to match. Garden steps that follow a natural walking stride use a shallower rise and a deeper tread than the stairs inside a house, which is why builders who simply copy interior stair dimensions outdoors end up with steps that feel cramped and steep.

Materials matter more here than almost anywhere in the yard, because outdoor stairs take rain, foot traffic, and freeze in the same spot day after day. Pressure-treated fir stringers resist rot as the structural skeleton, with cedar, composite, or stone treads on top. Whatever the surface, it has to shed water and stay grippy: we specify non-slip treads or grooved surfaces because a smooth board turns into a hazard the moment it gets wet or grows a film of algae, which happens fast in a shaded Pacific Northwest yard.

What holds a staircase up

The part you never see decides how long the stairs last. Stringers should bear on a solid concrete footing or landing rather than on bare soil, keeping the wood off the ground and out of standing water. On sloped or soft lots we set footings below the frost line and pitch surrounding grade to drain away from the base. Get the footings and drainage right and the stairs stay square and quiet for decades instead of settling, twisting, and starting to creak.