Clients have changed there mind and now want open stairs (no risers boards).Built alot of regular stairs with 2x 12 stringers and clad in finished wood but no open stringers.
What diffrent ways would a fellar have to make his stringers(dont know yet if painted or stain grade) and handle some of the attachment issues nicely? Would you glue up two or three layers of cabinet grade 3/4 plywood and saw them out.? Then what cover the riser cuts with finished wood banding to hide the plys.?Enclose them in straight (uncut) dadoed stringers (treads 3′ wide would have to be at least 2″ thick?)?
Open to suggestions and tips , thanks!
Replies
Ones I did for our last place were hickory treads and stringers. Treads fit sliding dovetails in the stringers. This was all 4/4 so I added a stiffener under the treads to stop the bounce. Worked great.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Would open risers meet code?
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That was gonna be mine. The first thing to do is check with local BI to see if it will pass his interpretation on staircodes.
I would look for some 3x112 Doug fir in top quality, CVG or as close to it as possible, and then cut and sand it
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This is the wild west( WV) ; we have no codes or inspectors. Which has caused these people all kinds of grief. I took over the job after a horribly bad and unscrtupulous contractor nailed up the most dangereous and horrendous pile of lumber Ive seen in 30 years. We tore out the whole second floor ; two huge gabled walls, ripped down his attempt at garage trusses and restrenghted the main roof from inside only because it was too dangerous and costly to remove.The log siding was just nailed to foam board in a lot of places.(easy to remove!) My dad who was a bldg. oinspector for 20 years would have had a coronary!
Been there, done that!
If this is an attempt at rustic or log cabin style, then you might find logs to be the stringers and notch into them. See several pictures in the Log Home Living magzines for inspiration
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I'm planning to use a single tube steel stringer in the center to float colored and polished concrete treads on mine when it's time to R&R the temporary construction steps. I don't know your client's taste but I'll send you the engineered design sketches if you think they might be inclined to do something a little more "bold" to make the stairs as visually unobtrusive as possible.
These stairs are engineered to be plenty strong and reasonably safe but they will not pass any of the building codes.
Kevin Halliburton
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Think "Brady Bunch" ;~)
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