Hello everyone, I am looking for some advice for a problem with my own home which has bothered me for several years. I have a multi story house which has a split entry with a large staircase going to the upper floor and a small stair going to the lower level on the right side. Directly on the left is a formal living room. The problem I have is with the stair dimensions leading to the upper floors. The treads are only 8.75″ wide and a rise of 7.5″. I have had several people (myself included) slip on these stairs and I want to do something to address the problem. The current total rise is 70″ and run is 72″. An addittional problem is that directly beneath the stairs is the drywalled ceiling for a third stairway which leads down to the daylight basement.
I have several questions: Can I just extend the existing stari jacks to accomadate a wider tread? If so, could I sister like material to the jacks and nail or bolt or screw it and would this be strong enough? This would be the easiest but I have never seen this done before and don’t want to do a half*&% job. My inclination is to cut new jacks but this would damage the sheetrock below the stairs as well as use up limited space in the enrty way. Some of my other thoughts have been a curved stair but I’m not sure how this would work with the need to cover the lower stairs.
I am open to any and all suggestions, thanks in advance! I am going to try and post pictures as well.
Thanks
Karl
Replies
Karl, remove carpet , add nosing if there is not one there now. Nosing can be 1 1/2"x thickness of tread, usually 5/4" stock. If there is a nosing remove it, add another riser for support for nosing. Then add a wider bull nosed piece. If the tread is one piece without nosing and already bull nosed, remove tread. Remove riser and add spacer block to face of stringer , this brings riser out. Try for 11" tread or close to it.
Probably easier to buy new treads than add onto your existing ones. The stringer will be okay the way it is, just glue ( subfloor or panel adhesive) the spacer blocks to the stringers rise. Make 1 1/2"x 7 1/2" blocks out of plywood, even if you have to glue to pieces together to get required thickness.Solid wood will crack , plywood won't.Risers can be nailed on with 15 or 18 gauge nailer, no glue. Predrill holes for treads, use 16d galv. casing nails ( hand nails). Lubricate nails with beeswax or candle wax, galv. nails bend easier, so use wax on them.Galv nails hold better than smooth ones.Use subfloor or panel adhesive on top of stringer tread, heavy bead. This will prevent squeaks.
mike
If you remove the carpet and add max allowable nosings (1.5") you can gain some improvement in comfort and safety, especially if you avoid rounded nosings.
Beyond that, though, you're going to have to rebuild the staircase.
If you can't afford to change the overall pitch, the best choice would be to lose one step, giving you about an 8.75 riser and a 9" tread, if I figure correctly. Of course, some jurisdictions don't allow more than an 8" riser, if you're worried about code. And a 9" tread is really the bare minimum that most people can tolerate.
Better would be to extend the run to give you about a 10" tread, leaving the current riser height.
There is a formula for the ideal riser/tread combo. The simple version is riser+tread = 17-18 inches. This is good from about 6 inches to 9 inches on the riser. There is a better formula that covers a wider range, but I forget what it is.
I'm thinking the magic #is 25. 2+1=25
I now know I should have paid attention in math class
Clay
Karl,
Can you cut new stringers and sister them to the old ones? I use this technique all the time because most of the stairs I finish are framed incorrectly. It appears that you need to add an inch to the run of each tread,making the run 9" and use a 10.5" tread, which will add 9" to the overall run of the stair. Do you have this much room available on the landing? I believe you need 3 feet square at the landing of stairs that is free of obstructions. This will also change the baluster layout and the location of the newell post. So at this point you are looking at rebuilding the stairs basically. However it sounds as though it is in order. Stairs are inherently dangerous and there is no need to make them any more dangerous by not having a properly sized tread to make navigation safe.
Good luck.
J.P.
I agree with rebuilding the entire stairs & rail. Adding extra tread width without changing the run will not get you anywhere. Usable tread is detrmined by the run.
We don't build stairs like that where I live. We get them premade from the lumber company with the treads and risers morticed into the stringers for closed stairs. It is cheaper to buy the stairs premade than for me to make them, around here they don't cost much more than the cost of materials.
We become by effort primarily what we end up becoming
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