Stairs. Yikes!

Bill Lantry

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2,663
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Inside the Beltway
Hey, folks,

We have a second story deck. I've shored up the structure, rebuilt the rails, added flower boxes. Eventually, we'll need a whole new deck, but not yet. What I haven't gotten to so far is the stairs, and I can't leave them any longer. I've got to rebuild them.

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As you can see, I hope, there's not much left of the redwood, not even where the carpenter bees haven't riddled it with holes. James has managed to pull off a couple of the stair treads, and two of the rails. The whole thing is wobbly!

I've never made stairs before... any tips, tricks, links, etc. would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Bill
 
save your best stringer

and use it for your pattern, if your not comfortable layin out new ones..the guy before you has done the math, you just need to redo the work:) the key is to make both sides the same. they might call the stringer in your area the carrier or riser.. its the one that has the treads attached to it.


from thelast picture it looks like they are mite steeper than normal do they rize more than 7 inches each step? looks to be around 8" rize????
 
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if you plan on replacing the whole deck in the next coupla years then save yourself lots of work by strengthing the existing stairs. first add risers and screw the treads down securely, then stiffen the stringers by adding a full length 2x on the inside that touches the tread/riser joint.......if that`s not enough install 4x4 supports midway in the run to transfer the load to the ground......
this should buy you time so you can do the whole deck and new stairs in one shot.
 
While is is perhaps off base for the direction you are going, I plan on adding a circular staircase. They take up so much less room.

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