Advice for backyard staircase - concrete VS. gravel?

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I’m just now getting back to this thread. I’ve been dealing with other more pressing problems at my house.

1.) So, these ties are possibly 20-30 years old and are really dry. They may even have termites since they are so dry. I’ve been told by three debris removal companies that they are toxic and need special removal protocols to deal with. I’m now guessing that they are completely full of it and just using that to charge a ton of money because of the potential “toxicity”. Based on how old they are, is it likely that the toxic materials in them are long gone? Some of the replies here seemed to suggest that…

2.) My HOA passed some new ruling after the fires that home owners are not allowed to add railroad ties to our properties from this point on, so replacing the burned out ones with replacements is not an option.

3. ) I have a bad back, shoulder, and limited building knowledge, so unfortunately a DYI project is not an option for me so I need to figure out the best way to handle this. There were some interesting ideas posted here, though nobody commented on my original post asking about what one contractors suggested. Any thoughts on this approach:

Roadbase gravel and decomposed gravel and putting pavers on top glued down.

Thanks for any input!
 
The ties you had may have been 30 years old before they were installed but they are still considered bad stuff, so the contractor is not lying about the cleanup and disposal.
Do you have a picture of the stairs you are talking about.
 
There is nothing left of the stairs at this point, the metal railing in the photo is also now gone. The debris removal company took out the railroad ties today. So now it is a slope of dirt going down the hill. I have stones in the ground leading to the staircase and now I'm thinking of somehow using these types of stones as the stairs going down the hill. Thoughts on how I might be able to make this work? Is it a bad idea for any reason. Thanks again.


 

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