How to Build Stairs | The Easy Way

[Music] thank you over the years I have built many stairs and I've put together tutorials on how I did it but in this video I am going to be ripping out this horribly built set and replacing it with my own which as you can see is attached to a new deck I'm building as well there are so many common mistakes found on this set that I thought it would be a great time to highlight the do's and don'ts of stair building first off there is no landing on the base the stringers are miscalculated so they used a rock as the bottom step which only covers half of the width plenty of the boards in fact almost all of them are popping off some of them the nails have completely pushed its way out some of the Treads are completely loose because the stringers are so rotted out that the wood can't even hold on to the nails then looking down at the post most are only in a few inches in the ground and some are so rotted away that the case was almost unsupported let's go ahead and start there on the correct way to do stairs a huge mistake on the previous stairs is they set the post in concrete but didn't slope the concrete so that the water would run away instead water pulled around the post so if you set pose definitely make sure you're pouring enough concrete to Mound it slightly to shed water away also I recommend putting a post sleeve on in-ground post it's a super quick addition to where you use heat to shrink a moisture blocking sleeve around the base of the post the sleeve doesn't have to extend to the bottom of the post but you do want it to extend a couple inches above the ground I use these sleeves on in-ground posts for deck porches fences or mailboxes something the previous stairs completely ignored is a landing which is the portion at the base after the last step and by code it's required to extend pass by at least three feet these footing pads you see are called tough blocks using them was so fast and easy I didn't have to dig deep holes or carry and mix concrete there's a link in the description this moves on to another common mistake which is not taking the time to apply joist tape these previous stairs are so badly cracked and rotted on the top side of the joys that the steps are practically falling off this zone is the most susceptible to moisture damage because it's a collection point for water however joystable drastically prolong the life of your joists or stringers foreign [Music] I use a combination Square to get it tucked nice and tight into the different corners and I even wrapped around the tail so that there's joist tape between the Stringer and the hanger whenever it comes to fastening the stringers to the rim joists this is one of the most common mistakes the old set was literally held in with just a few toenails that's not okay people there are Stringer hangers that makes this connection strong but easy to install note that treated wood is corrosive to metal although Pro wood is less corrosive I like to add a layer of joist tape between the hanger and the wood itself this nailer also makes it easy the tip of the nail protrudes enough for you to visually see it and nail it in the placement this is my first project to use the gun on and I was highly impressed that's so cool Jacob that is legitimately awesome I've been using a palm nailer for years but this gun is absolutely an upgrade so amazing on picking material you should always use two by twelves that are treated and meant for ground contact now be picky when choosing your boards you want nice and straight without any big knots or splits in it I know it can be intimidating and to cut your own stringers and very easy to turn 100 bucks of lumber into scrap wood so know that Pro would pre-cut Stringer saves you all of the math cutting time and frustration they have sizes from Two Steps all the way up to eight it's made from Southern yellow pine which is one of the strongest framing species available know that treated lumber is treated to different levels and these stringers are treated to the highest grade of protection and carry a lifetime limited warranty against rot and insects however if you do want to cut your own there are online calculators for figuring your rise and run but no cutouts must leave five inches of uncut width it's this part here no there are boundaries you need to stay within when making your stringers the minimum trap red which is the flat board is 10 inches and the max rise is seven and three quarters when trying to figure out your span what you do is you measure horizontally so you're not allowed to have more than six feet unsupported this is in line with that brim joist so that I can pull a tape and show you guys from here to here I'm at about five feet and five inches so we're good to go spacing for stair stringers is 18 inches Max so three stringers is fine for a 36 inch wide staircase but sometimes the minimum number of stringers will still feel bouncy so know there's nothing against adding an extra Stringer which is what I did here moving on to the Treads which is the horizontal piece of the step know that they must protrude at least three quarters of an inch but not more than one and one quarter this is called nosing and it's going to prevent you from kicking the step and stumping your toe as you're going up them [Music] oh by the way it's amazing how often I reach for the six inch combo Square I recommend throwing one in your tool bag I'm using it here to set the overhang properly on both the left and right before screwing it down another common mistake is open risers which means that you don't put a board on the vertical spots here that is not okay but you do see a lot of people do it know that code States you can't have an opening more than four inches wide what I like to do is put on the Treads first and this way I can butt the Riser directly up against it [Music] let's move on to talking about Hardware this is again another huge mistake people make they end up using regular nails and as what is always expanding and Contracting it will eventually push out the nail if you use regular so instead I always take the added time to screw my Treads and risers on since the wood is treated you want to go with a corrosive resistant Fastener you can use something like Galvanize however know that it will leave a black streak after it gets wet if you want to avoid that like me then I recommend stainless screws they are more expensive but they're not going to corrode away and they won't leave those ugly black streaks I personally like these spax ones that have a reverse thread at the neck and this is actually going to pull the boards down and together instead of pushing them away as you're driving the screws in [Music] okay and then the last thing to consider for a lasting staircase is the material Choice itself I'm using Western red cedar on the rest of the deck so I stuck with that for the staircase I love the look of Western red cedar I love the variety of colors and the tones not only it has when it's raw but also whenever it's stained however other than just being beautiful it is also one of the few Woods that is naturally brought and insect resistant meaning even without additional protection it will hold up in the elements longer than almost any other species then if you protect it and maintain it it will last a crazy amount of time Western red cedar is sold Nationwide so I'll leave you a link to find a dealer near you [Music] then one last thing about keeping your deck looking good I highly recommend fence armor postcards they're easy to install and shield your pose from ugly Damage Done by string trimmers everything around my property my fence my deck my mailbox post has one of these it's a one and done thing where you set it and then forget about it but it'll always be working to keep your post in Tip-Top condition and there we have it just a single day in order to knock this out and boy what a difference and truly the thing is is you can definitely build a staircase that will look good for a few months or even a year but the do's and don'ts I covered in this video will make or break if your staircase will continue to hold up year after year after year all right I hope you all got some good information about stair building I will leave you a link to the other videos I've done on stairs up next in the deck building series is going to be the railing you see around me so I'll see you on that video foreign

Channel: April Wilkerson

Views: 214,889

Keywords: aprilwilkerson, wilkerdos, diy, diyproject, diyprojects, build, plans, howto, build deck stairs, build steps, stair stringers, stair treads, stair risers, outdoor stairs, patio stairs, stairs for a deck, stair ideas, stair landing, stair parts, rise and run, planning stairs, precut stringers, slope, stair hardware, deck ideas, how to build a deck, deck framing, stair skirt, how to calculate stair stringers, how to cut stair stringers, treated lumber, stair jacks, building code

Id: nAdG59g46Jg

Length: 9min 29sec (569 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 30 2023