Plans call for the staircase to go up a bit then jog left. i want to make it a little more interesting, so would prefer to up, then curve to the left before straightening out again. On paper it’s not an arc you can draw with a string that would define the distance betweent he two straihgt legs, and from FHB 8 i used a partial elipse, and have a curve that will look great…anyway need some places to go for help on how to build these stairs. thanks doc
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Doc
Either wait for Stan Foster or try and e-mail him through prospero, he can probably give you some advice, go over to the photo gallary and click on any of the posts that have to do with curved stairs, hes the man!
Doug
Ditto on Stan Foster, or you might try Armin the Laminator. these guys both do great work.
Mark
Doc: Ask away and I will do my best to help you. Elliptical stairways are awesome. What I would strongly advise to stay away from are stairways that are curved and then have the top two or three steps straight. There is usually a change of pitch at the junction between the curved and straight section. This causes a kink in the railing and stringer as it has to follow the pitch changes.
Stan: Thanks for reply. Looks like I got my work cut for me as just yesterday I framed inside staircase wall(part of out side will be open, and closed part is where will tie into existing house), in prep for crew this weekend to frame second floor deck. First two feet or so is straight and then goes into the arc/ellipse, then straight for last two feet. My wall looks nice as took time to cut bottom and top plates on band saw, but you say I'm going to have a heck of time making transitions from straight to curve to straight. I'm up for the challenge as doing myself, so not in a rush, and can take time to figure out. Any suggested reading materials out there on the subject? I have all back issues of FHB, but nothing there. Thanks. Doc
Doc: The transitions arent hard..its just that they cause the rail to have a change of pitch and it isnt as clean looking. An upeasing and an overeasing is usually needed to blend the two rails together.
Stan:
Rainy day here so finally getting back to the computer and respond to your reply. Saw your pics of stairs....now I see you really know your stuff. I'm getting ready to tackle the rough stairs. Can you suggest any reading on the subject to help me get going? Know at the tightest radius the width of the step will be 8 and 1/8, but along that wall as the curve becomes less sever(going up or down) how do I figure the change in width? How about the outside radius? Unlike your beautiful free standing stairs mine will not be free standing so that should make it a bit easier to build. thanks Doc
Doc: I would divide up the runs of the inside and outside stringers..and divide them equally by the number of treads. Then connect the inside and outside divisions and there is each of your treads. I do this by drawing the face of the inside and outside stringers on my shopfloor, then place a row of small finish nails along these lines. I then take a long strip of wood and use this to bend along the nails. This strip of wood is then measured and divided up into the individual treads. When this strip is layed back on the row of nails..the actual treads can then be marked out on the floor.
There are several stairbuilding books...Treatise on Stairbuilding...is my favorite