The stairbuilding video is below. I am currently in the process of reading the book and will post a review on it shortly. First impression is that it appears to be a well done publication with plenty of photos, illustrations and diagrams for ease of explanation. Stay tuned for complete review of Basic Stairbuilding later.

Thermwood M53 Cutting Stair Stringers

Making it more confusing are the google ads littered all over the page. Is Tim really interested in me learning how to build stairs or just making money off of random clicks? Tim makes the ads the main focus of the page which takes me away from what I’m hear to do - learn how to build stairs.

I see where certain words have been made into links. These appear to go back to a page where Tim is selling ebooks on the process. I find this further distracting - what about building stairs?

Let’s see if I can break out the different steps involved according to Tim:

1 - draw cross section of existing staircase
2 - get vertical distance between each step (measure from where to where?)
3 - get vertical distance between first and last steps (same question)
4 - get the vertical distance between each floor level
5 - measure the depth of each tread (aren’t they all the same?)
6 - note gaps between each side stringer (how do I do this?)
7 - note where side stringers touch bottom floor and sub-floor header (maybe I can do this?)
8 - if I’m lucky stair tread depth and stair height will be consistent (what if I’m not?)
9 - take cardboard and make a stair angle guide to copy top and bottom stair stringer cuts and position of treads (ok, I think I got that but you are starting to lose me)
10 - take the cardboard cutout and perform some measuring trick (ok, I need pictures and we ain’t got them)10 steps and you lost me Tim. Right about this point, Tim offers his stair building ebook complete with pictures. Wow! What a coincidence! $20 will get me there. Perhaps I will pick one up and review it because the web site ain’t going to get my stairway to heaven.

______________________________

Tim Carter said,

ON MARCH 25TH, 2007 AT 8:12 PM
This is a rely to the newbie who commented on my column about Building Stairs.

First, I appreciate your comments and criticism. After reading you comments, I went back and adjusted my column Summary. Here is an excerpt: “….It is impossible to describe the step-by-step process in the column below, because the newspapers across the land that run my column have a specific word count or column length I must hit each week. There simply was not enough room in the column to explain the entire process.”

I recognized immediately after writing the column that a better step-by-step guide had to be produced. I thought I could write it in a day. Boy, was I wrong. It took two weeks to try to distill the process I can do nearly blindfolded into words that a rookie could follow.

As for the Google AdSense and underlined links at AsktheBuilder.com, this is how I am able to provide all of the thousands of free columns for people like you to read. I have tens of thousands of hours invested in writing the content at AsktheBuilder.com, and I have to support my family in some method.

I tried doing a paid Premium content version of AsktheBuilder.com, and it was a miserable failure. People want the information for free. I understand that. My feeling is that if I am giving you the content for free, it seems reasonable that you might put up with some ads - ads that just might contain a solution to your problem.

This approach is by no means new. Network television has been free for nearly 60 years. The trouble is, the programming gets interrupted by ads.

[tags]building stairs, stair stringer calculator, stair building, stair treads, rise run, stair stringer spreadsheet[/tags]

I’m trying to determine if anyone gives an online tutorial that would allow me to actually build a set of stairs. Hometime.com purportedly shows me how to build a set of deck stairs. Let’s see how far we get, shall we?


As opposed to askthebuilder.com, hometime.com seems to lay out the process in a series of steps. This site loves adsense as well as their page is littered with it. We start off with the very basics. To build a set of stairs, I need to know how many stairs will be needed to span a certain height and length. Easy enough.

1 - Measure the height of the deck. I’m going to create some hypothetical measurements and try to run through the calculations. The picture shows a guy on a ladder measuring the deck. It looks like it is roughly 8 feet high so 96 inches. I assume we measure in inches but no one has cleared that up.

2 - We take that number and divide by 7 (”a typical stairway rise”). 96/7 = 13.7 and some more change. We didn’t get a whole number as they had hoped, and we can’t build 13.7 steps to cover an 8 foot height. So now we need to round that to the next whole number which would be 14. So we have 14 steps.

3 - We need to take 14 and divide it back into the height. Okay 96/14 = 6.86 which gives me the rise I’ll need for that number of treads. So I need to remember 6.86 for some reason. I assume that’s how quickly 14 stairs will traverse 8 feet in height.

4 - Okay, they are telling me to take 6.86 and divide it into 75. Where did they get 75? Oh well, I’ll do what they say - 75/6.86 = 10.93. I assume it is okay to round to the nearest hundredth on these calculations.

5 - So at this point I have a rise of 6.86 and a run of 10.93 (both in inches, I assume). My question is can I divide a yardstick into .86 or .93 easily? 6.86 would be just shy of 6 14/16. and 10.93 would be just shy of 10 15/16. Can’t I somehow get it to a whole number to make my life easier?

6 - They lost me here - “So with a typical rise of 7 inches, a typical run might be 10-1/2 inches. A rise of 7-1/2 inches would work best with a run of 10 inches. But this so-called “comfort formula” does allow some leeway, so layouts of 6-12 (72) and 7-11 (77) work out fine.” How do you figure this out?

7 - Laying out the stringers with a framing square - this looks relatively simple once you realize that you start with the rise on the bottom and end with the run on the top.Hometime.com gives a pretty good explanation and I could probably do it from here. I don’t understand where they got the “75″ and I don’t understand their fudging in step 6 above but I may not have to in order to do this.

Good job hometime.com.

[tags]building stairs, stair stringer calculator, stair building, stair treads, rise run, stair stringer spreadsheet[/tags]

The Hammerzone.com lays out the stair building process in 11 steps.

1 - First determine the total rise of the stairs by measuring the total height to be spanned. Here I think the first mistake is made. The Hammerzone.com indicates to take the total “run” and divide by the riser height. I think he means divided the total “rise” by the riser height. Do this to determine the total risers needed. He does note that the number of risers does not equal the number of steps as you get one free riser.

2 - Next determine the thickness of the stair tread material.

3 - Next determine the heights of the upper surfaces of the treads. Subtract your riser height from the top of, in this case, the finished deck surface. Then subtract the riser height from the top of the first tread and so on.

4 - Determine where to cut the stringers by subtracting the thickness of the stair treads. This took a second to understand what he meant but after reviewing the diagram, if your riser height is 6.75 inches and your thickness is one inch. Then your cut lines would be every 7.75 inches.

5 - Determine a starting point for the outer front surface of the riser.

6 - Determine the final position of the top tread by determining the tread width you are going to use.

7 - Factor in the nose overhang of the top tread to determine where your second tread will go.

8 - Determine the vertical cut line for the stair stringers by factoring in the riser material thickness.

9 - Repeat steps 6,7,8 for the other treads.

10 - Take your stair layout and convert it to stringer cutting layout. The Hammerzone.com is a little confusing to follow but so far the best site I’ve found on building stairs.

[tags]building stairs, stair stringer calculator, stair building, stair treads, rise run, stair stringer spreadsheet[/tags]

1 - He stresses the importance of construction materials and indicates that you should find stair building material that is free of knots and and voids so that stairs will not crack down the road. He states that lumberyards carry stock specifically for building stairs.

2 - He stresses quality construction when it comes to building stairs. Apparently, many builders cover the stairs with carpet to hide imperfections and poor construction. He implies that builders shouldn’t assume that no one will see the finished product.

3 - He actually cites to and uses building codes requiring a riser height of 7 3/4 and a run of 10 inches.

4 - He emphasizes the need to account for proper headroom when building stairs. I haven’t seen this emphasized to this degree on other sites.

5 - When cutting the stringers, he warns that cutting beyond your marked layout lines will actually weaken your stringers. Nice tip!

6 - He emphasized checking all of your work after putting the stair stringers in place and before further build out.

7 - He states that you can’t learn all you need to about stair building in one article - good point!

8 - He suggests predrilling your holes and sealing the underside of your stairs to prevent squeaking.

9 - He suggests a free stair stringer calculator but I suggest looking into a pay alternative at this stair building site.

How To Lay Ceramic Tile.

Get Organized Now! - Ideas, Tips, Tools And More To Help You Organize Your Home, Your Office And Your Life!

Ikea Kitchen Remodeling Secrets

Increase The Curb Appeal Of Any House

[tags]building stairs, stair stringer calculator, stair building, stair treads, rise run, stair stringer spreadsheet[/tags]

InspectUSA offers a staircase calculator to determine the rise and run.

Shalla.net offers an Excel spreadsheet program for designing stairs.

Blocklayer.com has a stair calculator that’s a bit more advanced than your average rise and run calculator.

Dia Dot Toolbox offers a option filled stair stringer calculator.

jself.com offers a step by step on how to cut stair stringers.

[tags]building stairs, stair stringer calculator, stair building, stair treads, rise run, stair stringer spreadsheet[/tags]

Initial stair building calculations

To start with your stair building project, calculate the number of steps you need. Take the total rise and divide it by 7. If your total rise is 96 inches, divide it by 7. This gives 13.7. This number reflects the number of stairs at that rise.
Since you can’t have “.7″ steps or treads, you have to decide if you want to go up or down to 13 or 14 steps when building stairs. If you pick 14, your rise will be less, if you pick 13, your rise will be more.

Pick 13 (go down). 96 divided by 13 is 7.38, or about 7 and 3/8. This is a good rise for your stair building project, and will most likely fall into code requirements for your locale. Code is almost always satisfied by less than 7 1/2, and usually by 7 3/4. This is all calculated by several online stair building calculators. Some are free and some cost a few bucks. You get what you pay for. There is an excellent calculator for building stairs at www.Shalla.Net that works it all out for you. There are a few free calculators for building stairs that give you rise and run but don’t give you a step by step measurement process. Pick one, and mark your stringers.


Stair building layout done - moving on to stair building

After you layout your stair stringers (or stair jacks, as they are also called) you’ll need to decide how to attach your stair stringers to the top level. You can simply extend your top level face down with heavy plywood, or you can use stair stringer hangers. Posts are another alternative. Posts all the way to the ground are very strong, but don’t always ‘fit’ a design. You need to make sure the staircase won’t collapse after ten years. Stringer hangers are a great way to go in your stair building project.

Stair Treads

Next in the stair building process are your treads. Treads are nailed onto the stringers. Make sure you have some overhang. If your run is 130 inches, and you have 13 steps, you have a run of 10 inches. Local code often specifies 10 inches minimum for run, so this would be okay. If your run is less, you may not have a code-happy situation. If you can extend you staircase to a point that satisfies code, great. Doing this manually takes a huge amount of time every time you change a setting. The spreadsheet at www.Shalla.Net calculates it all for you, but it’s 20 bucks. Anyway, find a calculator for building stairs that you are happy with, and let it do all the calculations. You need to have at least an inch of overhang for the treads.

Building stairs - final stages

You’ve cut your stair stringers and your treads, and you have a staircase plan.
You need to put it all together. For basement stairs it doesn’t matter much, but if you want it to not squeak, you need to glue before you screw. Outside, for wooden deck exterior stairs, this doesn’t matter much, but for interior stairs, glue and screw. You may be well served to create an extra stair stringer. Code may require two stair stringers, but for nice firm stairs you need to exceed code requirements and go with an extra stair stringer. Code requires a minimum, to impress your users, you have to exceed code. Code is only for basic safety but consider it in your stair building project.

Posted by StairMan 2007-01-13 on HomeImprovementAndyBlog. We need your input for future projects. Good luck, Andy.

[tags]building stairs, stair stringer calculator, stair building, stair treads, rise run, stair stringer spreadsheet[/tags]