Need HELP! Ideas for stairs after back porch taken off

[linzvirgo]

We took off about a 16' brick and slate deck to make room for the pool in the backyard. Now we have a set of sliding glass doors off of our sunroom that are about 5' in the air. The foundation will have to be rocked in and will also have a planter bed on both sides of the doors going the length of the house to breakup hardscape from hardscape. We also have a side door that opened onto the deck after going down 2 steps in the same area. We are brainstorming ideas of how to incorporate them into the design b/c I am NOT (like my husband and landscaper talked about) closing them in. There is one other entrance off the driveway side of the backyard that will be used to get into the house from our cars and to get to the outdoor kitchen. I just can't imagine a sunroom that doesn't open to the backyard, especially with a pool! Please help with any ideas!! I'll attach some pictures I took today, excuse the muddy mess from the hurricane I also have a probable solution but would really like feedback. I am so visual and things like this are hard for me to visualize. Thank you in advance!!

 

[woodyp]

Long set of stair/steps down to a new wooden deck perhaps?

 

[bdavis466]

I would do a deck at the same level as the house, drop down to another deck a few feet lower and then step down to the pool deck.

I do a lot of design work. If you are really nice I can get you a 3d rendering.

 

[linzvirgo]

I think our goal is to have an exit at that door but to take up as little space as possible of the decking since that area is our main area to put chairs, tables etc. Would the multiple levels purtrude further into the deck than just a 3' landing out of the door (to meet building code but is allowed to come down 8" and double as first step) and straight steps down? I was thinking something similar to this:



like I said I'm pretty bad at visualizing things without a drawing.
Bdavis-are you serious?? You can do that?!??
lindsay

 

[jagger2005]

Do you have a sketch of your decking around the pool? May help people visualize what you are working with. BTW, nice pool.


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[bdavis466]

Send me a pm with your address and some inspirational ideas

 

[bdavis466]

The best I could tell your two doors on the backside of the house are at the same elevation. If thats the case then I think you have to do some sort of deck to tie the two of them together and allow access to the pool. It seems odd to me to have a set of stairs coming off each door and I'd really try to avoid a doorway that leads immediately to a staircase.

I scaled this off your site plan you sent but it looks like there is more distance from the house to the pool?

Something like this?

 

[Nursenini]

Wow, Brian! That is BEAUTIFUL!!

 

[linzvirgo]

If only I had your talent Brian!! Wow. So, basically what would look best is what we took off of the house to begin with ughhhh If we do something like this we would lose all of our deck space for outdoor furniture. This has been the hardest part of the entire pool build is what to do with these doors. We thought we had a brilliant idea to lose the deck and gain more room-I can't tell you how many time we have been out there with spray paint and a tape measure trying to figure this all out. Thank you SO much for your input. i think my husbands mouth dropped open when I showed him your design (in awe and also probably in "oh no what did we do").

 

[bdavis466]

What about taking the deck all the way to the edge of the pool then?

What's the distance to the pool from the double door?

 

[linzvirgo]

Its 23' from the door to the edge of the pool, but when it gets to the far corner of the house its about 15'. The old deck stopped about where you had it on your design b/c on the part of the house that protrudes past the deck there are floor to ceiling windows.

 

[jagger2005]

I ran into a similar issue. Here is a picture of what I did. Mind you, I am pretty minimalist - or cheap if you ask my wife. The left side with large steps is actually shelves covered with potted plants.
.

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[linzvirgo]

Jagger-Thanks for your picture! Did you not have to put a railing up for the steps? I thought we didn't and were told this week that anything over 3 steps needs a raining

 

[jagger2005]

Well, I live in an almost inspection free environment. I had to pay someone to do inspections on pool because there are no requirements in the county - according to PB. I have already been looking at getting a rail added at left side of 5 steps - a lot closer to senior than I care to admit


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[Isaac-1]

I know of a house locally that had a similar issue after adding a pool, except in their case it was a double wide set of french doors that opened at a level about 2 ft above the pool deck level. The solution they used was a small landing maybe 3 ft deep with a rail directly in front of the double doors and an L shaped set of steps down to the pool deck level to the left as viewed from the pool. So that one walking out of the house from the sunroom would be on a small balcony with rail overlooking the pool deck as they stepped out the door, then to get to the pool level they would turn to their right, step down onto a landing, the turn to their left and proceed down an additional 2 or 3 steps. There was also a small planter built into the elevated balcony at floor level on the pool side of the railing.

In the case of the house near here this was all done in redish brick (Old Chicago Brick?) , and the pool about a 20 x 44 traditional hopper end rectangular pool was located in a wrought iron and redish brick courtyard in the side yard of the house. (probably early 1980's pool construction, added onto a 1970's 2 story house) I think it is a good concept if executed correctly, in the case of the house near here I don't think it was executed well as the step sizes and spacing did not feel natural, also the balcony deck was a step down through the double doors.