STRUCTURAL 



137 



owing to the difficulty of keeping them. They 

 may be of stone or brick, when they are best 

 finished at the sides by simple straps of stone 

 or brick on edge, running with the slope of the 

 bank. It is a mistake to build out wing walls, 

 jutting out obtrusively and breaking the line of 

 the bank. When the steps connect with gravel 

 they may be surfaced with gravel, having wooden 

 risers strongly pegged. The sides would be 



DIAGRAM 48. 



finished either by a board into which the risers 

 are partly set, so dispensing with end pegs, or 

 by turf rolled over a slight bank. Steps made of 

 gravel need no foundation beyond beating the 

 ground and providing hard core. 



When a house is built actually on a slope there 

 is opportunity for a terrace on one side, and a 

 sunk platform on the other. The levelled plat- 

 form should be run out as far as possible, the re- 

 taining wall to the natural surface being the limit- 

 ing factor; 5 ft. is high enough for this. 

 The levelled parts can be repeated up the hill in 



