Cellar-kitchen exterior steps construction

Series of 32 digital photographs showing the construction of the exterior stone steps to the lower-grade level kitchen doorway at the DeTurk House. Full captions for numbered photos appear below. June 14, 2010 2634: Brittle top layer of limestone bedrock found 18" below top of door sill. 2635: Chipped and fractured bedrock stratum under door sill. 2636: White-veined blue limestone bedrock at bottom of excavation for staircase. This is the same [Dolomitic] limestone under most of the Oley Valley; in a quarry about 2 miles to the south, where the “table” of stone is about 400 feet thick to the base of the quarry face. 2637: White-veined blue limestone bedrock at bottom of excavation for staircase. 2638: Sizing and cutting geo-textile filter fabric for stone-bed underlayment. 2639: Geo-textile fabric covering bedrock. 2640: Loading "2B" clean stone onto geo-textile fabric. 2641: Leveling 2B stone bed. June 15, 2010 0001: Rubber-tracked Kubota 161 Mini-Excavator mobilized to excavate, set bed-stones, step-blocks, landings, and risers forming the staircase. 0002: Lower limestone landing ["L1"-see Field Notes sketch-drawings DTR09FN4--1001.01.231 & DTR09FN5--1001.01.232], which is 41inches x 22 inches x 4 inches, set on irregular ("rock-face") limestone bed stone ["B1"] to support L1 [lower landing, against sill] and CD1 [lower channel drain, at same elevation as L1]. 0009: 30 inches x 56 inches x 8 inches limestone bed-stone ["B3"], positioned as shown in DTR09FN5--1001.01.232 to provide continuous solid support from bedrock upward through bed-stones, which bear step-blocks ["landings"], risers, and channel drains. 0016: L1, R1 [granite riser] & B3 set in final alignment on 2B stone and screenings leveling bed, and CD1, set in a lime mortar bed with mortared [vertical] side-joints capped with screenings. 0017: 360 degree leveling laser used to set elevations of landings and channel drain grates, using top of sill at north door jamb as reference datum. 0019: 38" x 22" x 4" with one of its larger surfaces on (irregular "rock-face") limestone bed stone ["B2"] to support upper limestone step-block ["L2"] and CD2 [upper channel drain]. 0020: setting B2. 0023: setting and leveling B2 on stone screening bed. 0026: setting and leveling L2 on stone screening bed. 0030: Grappling granite bed-stone [ "B4", 38" x 22" x 8"] into position, with 2-plate "thumb" attachment, to support sandstone landing ["L3"], which is 40" x 29" x 8". 0031: Transporting B4 down embankment to staircase excavation. 0032: Preparing to set B4 in place. 0033: screenings bed leveled to receive bed-stone B4. 0037: B4 in place and leveled on screenings bed. 0052: L3 grappled with excavator bucket and "thumb" to its site. 0054: leveling L3. 0058: Setting mortar bed for CD2. 0063: Troweling mortar into joints flanking CD2. 0064: Screening caps on channel drain mortar joints. September 7, 2009 1084: East eaves wall detail and kitchen doorway prior to completion of staircase, retaining wall, and drains protecting doorway and foundation walls. July 3, 2010 104: East eaves wall detail and kitchen doorway after completion of staircase, retaining wall, and drains protecting doorway and foundation walls Laurence Ward, 2009, UPDATED Oct 2021 and September, 2022