Digger size for garden paths/steps

adocholiday

Hi all,

Wasn't sure if this was DIY, Construction or Gardening but I want to put some garden paths and steps in on my property and I'm not sure whether to go with a 1t or 1.5t machine. The paths will be between 1.2m and 1.5m wide (2 separate areas) 100mm depth and the plan is to line them with weed membrane, 75mm of 804 and top with 25mm of decorative gravel. The steps are simple, I'll excavate a 1.2m wide x 120mm deep trench and set down a frame of 2x6 boards running up the 20 degree slope and insert risers at recommended intervals to make 'boxes' that I'll fill with gravel.

A micro digger will be fine for this I'm sure, in terms of digging power and bucket size, but what I'm not sure about is the stability and overall usability. I have no access issues so getting a bigger digger into the area isn't really a concern, and the hill I want to put the steps into is about 6 feet tall so maybe a bigger machine with more reach and stability might be a better option? But my biggest concern is this will be my first time using a digger so I thought the smaller the better, but maybe going a step up might be the better option? Would appreciate any input on this.

CelticRambler

Not quite the same project, but in the absence of any other replies, this might be close enough to give you a point of reference. Steps 1.5m wide, 60cm deep ; ditch at the bottom also about 60cm wide. All excavation work and other site-prep done with a 1t mini-digger and 45cm bucket +/- 90cm blade. A 90-100cm grading bucket might have been helpful, but I don't have one and in any case the steps needed to be finished by hand once the slope had been roughly defined.

Before -

After -

adocholiday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234796#Comment_122234796

Thanks for the info appreciate the response. That's a lovely job you did, looks great. I actually ended up going with the 1t micro digger and it did the job perfectly. I had no bother with any of the jobs I needed to do really.

https://imgur.com/a/H9ciUCT

Lumen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122237051#Comment_122237051

That looks great! How are you stopping the gravel/soil from going under the risers of each step? Geotextile?

adocholiday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122242749#Comment_122242749

Cheers yeah very happy with it. Yeah using some decent geotextile fabric to line the trench. It's hard to explain it really, but the angle of the steps don't match the angle of the hill. The hill is very steep, around 55 degrees, so I dug out the top of the hill and set the boards out further at the base so the steps are actually 20 degrees. It means that there's a fairly big gap between the hill and the stairs so I made like a bag underneath, stapled to the sides of the steps and filled it with 804. Then I piled soil against it either side and graded it so it works with the hill and the 804 is behind it. The risers are just basically sitting on the 804 and it's piled in underneath. There's a whole tonne bag of 804 in there! This 'in progress' picture probably shows it well enough.

awec

On a side note @adocholiday your garden and house look amazing. 👍️

adocholiday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122244356#Comment_122244356

Thanks @awec very kind of you to say so. It keeps me busy anyway!