Beginner Gardening: Stairs into a small hill, 1 by Celosia

Celosia wrote:
Hello all, I'm really not very good at landscaping and gardening though I've been trying my best since moving into this house 2 years ago.

My problem is in our backyard, we have a small hill going up to the parking pad and garbage area. We spent some time fixing the crude steps that were there last year and over the winter they broke down and became hazardous. I even fell down the steps on a broken piece of a paver! Thankfully the snow was particularly high at the time and it cushioned the fall. So I really should fix this so that I don’t get hurt next time!

I would REALLY like to do this right this summer and have something that is stable and easy to walk up and down. If anyone has any suggestions on the process to do this I would really appreciate it. I really need step by step instructions to create the steps (tee hee) and a list of the materials I'll need to purchase.

My thoughts are to rip out what is there and fill with soil and really tamp it down and then basically measure how much room I have and how many steps are required for an 8 inch rise. I’ll then purchase some kind of bricks that I can layer under each larger cement paver (the 18x18 perhaps?) and just stagger them up the hill just basically pushing them down into the soil. This is where I kind of lose it because I’m not sure how accurate and level this would be.

ANY thoughts or links to sites would be so very helpful! Thanks!