Said It Here

Can I build outdoor stairs myself with no experience?

Building outdoor stairs yourself is daunting when you are worried about hidden structural gotchas, like improperly set posts or code mistakes, after spending money on a tight budget. These fears make people hesitate to tackle rotten steps on their own, fearing they will finish the job only to find a critical error.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Watching multiple tutorial videos to gain different perspectives
  2. 2
    Consulting with a handy friend for advice
  3. 3
    Acquiring necessary tools like a miter saw and drills
  4. 4
    Getting professional quotes to gauge costs and feasibility
  5. 5
    Buying pre-made RV stairs or metal stairs
  6. 6
    Tearing out the old steps and building new ones from wood or concrete
  7. 7
    Using the hollow structure as a mold and filling it with concrete
  8. 8
    Using a single temporary paver as a landing
  9. 9
    Digging down and setting a proper landing pad with river rock
  10. 10
    Extending the deck or installing pavers to fill the gap

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/homeowners2 people · September 2026

Really blowing me away that steps were hollow insidesource ↗

jazxxl · r/homeowners · 429 upvotes

Is something like this feasible for me to do with little to no experience?source ↗

My budget is a bit tight from some other home projects I’ve already had to get into.source ↗

My outdoor stairs are getting pretty rotten and the was looking at trying to do something like this.source ↗

Scarf_Darmanitan · r/homeowners · 4 upvotes

I’m worried there’ll be some hidden gotcha that I’m not ready for but I guess that’s life lolsource ↗

Scarf_Darmanitan · r/homeowners · 1 upvotes

I would hate to get all the way done and then find out I didn’t set a post properly or something crazysource ↗

Scarf_Darmanitan · r/homeowners · 1 upvotes
r/Landscaping1 person · September 2026

I built this deck last summer, and placed this paver as a temporary landing. Wondering if anyone has suggestions for what to do here at the base of the stairs?source ↗

SirWill · r/Landscaping · 5 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised