There was major relief today when the final set of stone steps were installed in the garden. Installing these steps has been a monumental effort on behalf of Paddy and Jonny. Most of the stones are well over safe working loads for two men, so that have had to use the ingenuity to get these in without any major incidents.
Once the step is roughly in position (but still resting on the slabs of insulation), the stone step is lifted up (the sides are protected by some thin blue foam) and the insulation removed (very quickly). If it all works out properly, the stone step ends up in the right spot!
Pulling out the installation. It looks a bit like a sequence from a game show, but you need to be quick to make sure your fingers aren’t underneath the stone step when it is lowered!
Once the step is in position, the blue foam is pulled out. This protects the sides of the step as it is lowered into position. The flagstones will cover the bottom half of the first step which is why it is a taller than the other steps – half of it will be buried.