I know it is difficult to get excited by steps but once you see really beautiful ones (or were you to own them yourself) you begin to appreciate the difference they make to a property.  To get them right you have to have a very skilled builder (who is cutting very thick, difficult and expensive stone so no mistakes allowed) and the best specification stone from a very good supplier. You also need excellent stone on the ground/drive/path to complement your steps…

For the drive we used random rectangular riven York stone of the highest quality with an average thickness of 75mm.  This is sitting on a mortar base of 25mm over a concreta base of 75mm.  The grouting is approximately 10mm wide.  To create a path effect to the front door (despite the fact that the whole area will be driven over and used as parking for two cars) we put in two strips of Sawn York 225mm wide  x 50mm thick and the front ramp was made of the same stone with a drainage system running along the length of it.

The steps were front and side bull nosed 50 mm thick by 400mm depth by 1.8M wide cut in one piece with the top stpe going INTO the house so cut to the narrowness of the door at the back.  We also cut 2 side pieces to support the cross steps ie the cross steps lay across them with a York stone riser of 150mm plus the thickness of the stone of 50mm therefore each step has a total rise of 200mm.  These are truly magnificent steps – possibly the best in Wandsworth!  Here below are some before and after shots.

BEFORE

and AFTER….