When we bought the cabin, the outside stairs were temporary stairs which hadn't been replaced and had become quite shakey. We were going to have some steps built for us, but we were having trouble finding someone to do it. Our neighbor, Tim, convinced us to build our own. He gave us access to his sawmill and he showed us some of the log stairs he made for other cabins. The idea of using logs from our own property to build steps was pretty exciting, so we jumped in. For the runners, we needed a 20 ft log, and each step is about 4 ft across, so we needed a LOT of logs for this. After looking for suitable logs, we cut them and dragged them to the sawmill with an ATV.

After dragging the logs, we cut them in half with the sawmill. It's important to note that running a sawmill is WAY cool. After cutting the logs, we used draw knives to remove the bark. As fun as the sawmill is, removing the bark is not as much fun (another technique to removing bark is a power washer... see the log furniture page).

After the logs were cut and the bark removed, it was time to start building the stairs. First we marked the location of the steps based on the old steps. Next we removed the old steps and put up the new runners. Once the runners were attached, we started adding steps. We cut the steps to the correct width with a chain saw, then fit them into place. The steps are held in place by two 3/4" steel pipes and 1/2" lag screws.

Once the steps were done, we attached the railing. The railing was bought by the previous owners. Finally, we stained and sealed the steps.

Click on the thumbnail pictures to see larger images.