How To Build a Deck | Composite Stairs & Railings (4 of 5)

building decks stairs for composite decks is similar to building wood stairs with just a few slight differences here's how to build a set of composite steps for our deck we added our decking and railings before building the stairs see all the steps in the previous video it's common to build the framing with treated lumber and use composite surface material which is what we'll do with these steps composite deck stairs are typically made from two by twelve stringers spaced about 8 to 16 inches apart they rest on a solid foundation and are attached to the deck with hangers they have risers also called toe kicks treads and railings stairs should be at least 36 inches wide you can build your own custom stringers or get pre-cut ones at Lowe's whichever you choose always make sure you follow building codes to start determine the location of your bottom step set a straight board or level on top of the decking and measure the height where you want your steps to end for example 55 inches divide this measurement by 7 the ideal height for each step round to the nearest whole number to get the number of risers in this case it's 8 now divide 55 by 8 to get the actual height of the risers for us in six and seven-eighths inches if your steps are too short for your comfort reduce the number of risers by one and calculate again since we're using the deck itself for the top riser we'll subtract one step for our treads we're using composite decking planks making the run about 11 inches along with wood and composite toe kicks on the back you can use the total run length to determine where to build your landing support one common landing is a concrete pad it has a four inch layer of gravel underneath and extends beyond the steps about 36 inches another option is to install concrete footers to locate them use the total length of the run also mark where the steps will attach to the deck the posts and footers should be in line with the two outer marks you can make the footers even with the ground check out our posts and framing video for steps on setting posts when you have your footers installed and the rise and run determined mark the steps on the stringers with a framing square set stair gauges at the height of the rise and the length of the run hold the square at the corner of the plank and mark the top run slide the square along the plank and Mark both rise and run continue marking until you have your number of steps at the top step subtract the thickness of the toe kick and strike a perpendicular line this is where the stairs attach to the deck and there is no toe kick at the bottom step mark the thickness of the tread to ship the entire set of stairs down when the treads are installed this will make the bottom step the same height as the others cut the stringer with a circular saw and finish with a hand saw use this stringer as a template to mark and cut the others next install a two by eight below the joist to attach the stringers brace it to the joist or beam behind attach the posts to the footers like you did for the deck frame now hold the stringers and hangers flush with the top of the 2 by 8 and Mark nail the hangers to the 2 by 8 and attach the outer stringers at the bottom screw them to the posts and attach the bottom toe kick then install the other stringers next secure posts at the bottom of the stairs with bracing anchors and carriage bolts now cut all the toe kicks out of wood and composite also cut the treads attach the toe kicks first then the treads with matching colored screws leave a small gap between the treads for a cleaner look we cut extra composite stringers and covered the wood stringers after the treads are in place you can finish with the railings slide on the post sleeves and glue the collars in place hold the bottom rail against the posts hole centered mark the angle at each end and cut the rail align the holes with the top rail transfer the angles then cut the top rail slide the brackets on the bottom rail and mark the bracket location on the post drill pilot holes and secure with screws to install the balusters use a tea bevel to get the angle mark the balusters and cut next place balusters inserts in the holes and attach the balusters now position the top rail and secure in place with screws finish the railings with post caps then fill in around the footers with gravel and now your composite deck is finished next make your deck stand out with accessories see how to add the finishing touches in the next video to learn about each step of deck installation go to lowes.com/howto

Channel: Lowe's Home Improvement

Views: 506,700

Rating: 4.7197804 out of 5

Keywords: how to, diy, lowe's, lowes, build a deck, how to build a deck, build composite stairs, install railings, composite deck, trex decking, trex deck, diy deck

Id: DsRSRliw3Ms

Length: 5min 38sec (338 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 03 2017