If I remove this bit of hard landscaping will my house fall down?

[Apuskidoofus]

I live in a house that's about 20 years old. The back garden is about 80cm below floor level, so we have steps leading down from the back door.

Rather than these steps reaching ground level they stop at a 'platform' made of hardcore, that extends out from the back of the house about 1m, sometimes more (back of house isn't flat).

The hardcore is held up/back by vertical flagstone dug into the ground.

It's really ugly and I'd like to remove it so we can use the full depth of the garden, but I'm worried that it was made for a reason. What would the reason be? What rings alarm bells a little is that the grid below the drainpipe has been installed on top of this weird gravel platform as if that is 'ground' level.

It was made as a step I assume!

No, the house has foundations I assume. Dig it away and see what you find. The house should not be standing on bare soil under the "step". It just looks like a cheap solution for terracing a garden to me.

I presumed it would have foundations, or at least hoped so!

Why go to the trouble of putting that ledge across the full width of the house when an extra step at the bottom of each flight would have sufficed?

I suppose I’m worrying that there could be pipes or something in there, is that likely?

How deep and what is under the gravel?

The height of the drain suggests that the level is that level for a reason, not just aesthetics.

If the drain cover was lower you'd end up with a hole full of leaves/ gravel and general yuck

What @womaninatightspot Drains that are sunken slightly seem to accumulate lots of rubbish along with leaves, gravel etc.

@ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn

How deep and what is under the gravel?

The height of the drain suggests that the level is that level for a reason, not just aesthetics.

Underneath the gravel is hardcore.

Sorry Viper, should have said... I don’t know how deep the hardcore goes down, we’ve never dug any of it out.
I would guess that there’s maybe a foot of the vertical paving slab underground.

I honestly don't see how half a meter of loose hardcore and gravel piled against the side of the house is going to have any structural purpose.

Is there a handrail on the steps down from the door?

If not I would guess from an experience I had when renovating my previous house, that the previous owner raised the outside ground level to meet the building regs which state that steps over X meters in height (I can't remember exactly - but it's only a few steps) need a hand rail. In my case the building inspector was happy when I hauled a slab over to the bottom of the steps and his tape measure was now showing the drop under the required limit. Maybe your previous owners had to do something a little more drastic.

The height of the drain suggests that the level is that level for a reason, not just aesthetics.

If you raise the ground level it makes sense to raise the trap too.

Ah Sandman, that's interesting. No, there is no handrail. We would like to put steps right down the the actual ground, and as we'd be rebuilding them we'd be happy enough to put a handrail in.

Presumably once the hardcore is out we could just lower the drain cover and extend the drain pipe? That doesn't strike me as a difficult job, but I might be wrong.

Good to know that people don't think this stuff could be concealing something important like drainage pipes.

Presumably once the hardcore is out we could just lower the drain cover and extend the drain pipe? That doesn't strike me as a difficult job, but I might be wrong.

Not difficult at all. Well within DIY levels. Just don't drop anything down the exposed rainwater run off pipe. Cover the exposed end as you dig to stop soil and gravel going down -until it's time to reconnect.