First time cutting stair stringers please help
Hi all, I’m new here and new to cutting stair stringers.
I watched hours of YouTube diy and read countless number of articles on cutting out and building my own staircase.
This past weekend I demolished my basement staircase and cut out my first template.
The total rise is 95.75 – .25 for the floor so I used 95.5 and 8 as the rise per step given the space I have available. Each tread will be 9.5”. I cut the stringer out with treads at 9 and the risers at 8. There will be a .5” overhang on the treads.
After making the template I set it on the headboard and the stringer is tilting a bit forward so there’s about a 1/8 gap on the top of the stringer leading me to believe I may have cut the bottom riser 1/8 too much? But when I had my wife lift up the bottom of the stringer she had to bring it up several inches for the stringer to be flush with the head board. I’m using Simpson strong tie joint connectors, cutting a total of 4 stringers and attaching them to the headboard so a total of 10treads and 11 risers on the stringer.
Is 1/8” gap acceptable at the top of the riser where it connects to the headboard?
or can I just compensate and cut 1/8” less material on the riser on the next stringer cut? Or better yet cut a second piece of plywood and nail it on the headboard which should reduce the space between the stringer and headboard?
Any advice would be extremely appreciate I would be very grateful. Have a wonderful thanksgiving.
-Aaron
Replies
The rise Is 95.75 less the floor of .25” from ground level to basement floor. So 95.5/12=7.96”. I cut the risers to 8” could that small difference be why there is a slight gap at the top of the stringer when placed near the headboard?
Is this “head board” plumb?
Are the treads level front to back?
Is the (1st) bottom rise of the stringer shorter than the rest?
Hi Calvin, The headboard is not fully plumb I’ll need to remount and shingle it. Yes I accounted for the bottom tread cut and the riser cut at the top stringer. My question is riser height 95.5/12 stairs is 7.96. I cut the risers at 8”. Would this be a big difference since 11 risers would mean I’m off 0.04x11=.44”? But that would mean I would need to cut off more material and end up with a shorter stringer and see a larger gap at the top stringer?
Thank you for your advice and help Calvin.
Aaron
Aaron,
I’m an old carpenter, now retired. I have high standards and constructed with the utmost integrity.
This could be a case for “close enough”. The user getting injured because of this fault sounds near impossible.
A couple more notes that may be useful.
The floor to floor measurement needs to be taken from where the stairs land, not plumb down from the top landing (in case the lower floor, or ground has fall built in).
Also, don't forget to subtract the tread thickness from the bottom of the stringer.
I would suggest watching Gary Katz's YouTube video entitled "Story Poles for Stairs: Precision Stair Layout", and avoiding "cumulative error", as experienced with using an 8" value rounded up from 7.96"... In my limited experience, Katz's videos are outstanding in providing carpentry techniques that work very well regardless of the circumstances.
https://www.mycarpentry.com/stair-calculator.html
I found this calculator very helpful when I cut stringers
Aaron,
Here is my by computer. https://www.blocklayer.com/stairs/straighteng
I hope things go well.
The first steps I built stairs 50 years ago, and I messed up the bottom step.
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Oops. My first line should have been "Here is my favorite way to calculate stairs by computer."