How to Build Hillside Stairs With Pavers

Determine the angle of the slope to calculate the height and width of stairway steps. Put a stake at the top of the hill where the stairs will start and a tall pole at the bottom. Stretch a line between the stake and pole, and level it with a line level. Measure the length of the hill from top to bottom and the height from the ground to the line at the top of the pole with a tape measure.

Use those measurements to design the stairs, allowing a tread, or top of each stair, of at least a foot and a rise of each step between 6 and 12 inches, depending on the steepness of the hill. Use wider treads and shorter risers on gentle slopes, minimal treads and taller risers on steep hills. Calculate how many steps will be needed to cover the length of the stairs.

Fit the stairway design to the type of paver, or fit the type of paver to the design to minimize the need for cutting. Use 8-by-16-inch concrete pavers for stairs with 8-inch treads and risers, for instance, or use brick pavers to make treads and risers of 12 inches. Combine paver styles if necessary to get the proper tread width and riser height without cutting pavers.

Mark the width of the stairs with stakes and mason's twine. Dig the steps with a shovel at least 4 inches deeper than the depth of the pavers; make dirt steps 6 inches deep, for instance, with 2-inch-thick pavers. Set wood braces at riser locations, boards the width of the stairs and height of the risers held in place with stakes.

Put 2 inches of medium gravel over the stair area, and compact it with a hand tamper. Cover that with 2 inches of coarse sand, also compacted, so you have a stairway of sand between board risers.

Start at the bottom setting pavers. Use a level to set the pavers level across the bottom tread width. Remove the temporary wood brace and set paver risers in place, with the riser bottoms down to the bottom of the tread pavers. Lay the next tread risers on the sand overlapping the edge of the vertical riser. Work up the stairway, setting risers and pavers, to the top.

Remove all braces and fill dirt at the sides of the stairs. Walk the stairs to check for any loose or unstable treads or risers. Re-set any loose pavers. Sweep fine sand or polymeric sand, which hardens when moistened, into the gaps between pavers. Keep adding sand until all joints are filled completely. Spray the stairway with a garden hose with a misting nozzle to set the sand.