Replies

1. 
   shelternerd | Feb 06, 2010 04:23pm | #1

   Can you not shim the stringers to bring them closer to equal? if you can get them to within 3/16 you should be fine. I generally set my risers a little proud of the stringers anyway so the foot impact on the nosing is carried by the riser and distributed to the face of the stringer. I also staple the bottom of the riser to the back of the lower tread for the same reason.

2. 
   calvin | Feb 06, 2010 04:24pm | #2

   Could you make the "out 7/8" a little clearer. Too Short/too tall?

   Finished flooring is in?

   You know the tread stock?

   thanks.

3. 
   IdahoDon | Feb 06, 2010 07:33pm | #3

   The top riser is often too tall and there is no easy fix other than to shim up the rest as much as possible. Keep in mind that if your inspector is anal he will ding you on the stairs before anything else if it's outside of code since it's statistically the most dangerous part of a house.

   I'd shim up the lower treads as much as possible to even things out. If you are still a little short of being even the top tread could tilt a little (I can't remember the amount that is allowable but it's someything like 1/8" from front to back of the tread.

   Hope that helps.

   Don

4. 
   lifeboat | Feb 07, 2010 12:08am | #4

   are the stringers between 2 walls? if so calculate new stringer layout and screw and glue over the existing stringers.

   http://www.quittintime.com

5. 
   compleatcarpenter | Feb 07, 2010 01:59am | #5

   If there aren't treads on the
   If there aren't treads on the stringers already, then the top riser should be 1" tall and the bottom riser should be 1" short. When you add the 1" treads, the rises will all be the same. If these conditions do not exist, then the stringers were cut improperly and you'll have to shim the whole assembly or each individual tread until you have less than 3/8" variation in riser heights in each flight.

6. 
   hammer1 | Feb 07, 2010 12:07pm | #6

   Typically, the stringers are held down from the top finished floor the thickness of the tread. Did you account for the tread when measuring? Are you saying that the top riser will be larger even after the tread is installed?

   There can be some variation on the top and bottom risers. A stair walker may trip if risers in the middle are different from each other but you seldom notice it on the first or last step. You could remove the stringers and jack them up to divide the discrepancy between the first and last riser. 3/8" isn't a big deal. Knowledgeable inspectors aren't likely to fail you if there is a small difference on starting or landing risers.

   I hate it when I have to finish stairs on stringers someone else has made. Sometimes you can't avoid it. There are times when they have to come out and correct ones installed, regardless of what's involved. Most of the time when I show up, the walls and underside of the stringers are sheetrocked, taped, primed and painted. If you can't remove the stringers to jack them up, you would have to add a shim to the tread cuts. Whatever you do to one, has to, essentially, be the same on all.

1. 
   DaveRicheson | Feb 08, 2010 06:12am | #8

   >>There can be some variation on the top and bottom risers. A stair walker may trip if risers in the middle are different from each other but you seldom notice it on the first or last step

   Statistically most falls occur on the first two riser at the top or bottom of steps. 3/16" is the nominal variation allowed for riser differences.

   We seldom vary our step when walking or climbing stairs by more than 3/16". Think of the times you have tripped on a slight bump in a sidewalk or parking lot when you are not really watching where you are walking. Or, when the edge of a throw rug is curled up and catches your toe.

   The same thing applies to stairs. You hit a rythm when waliking or climbing stairs. Break that rythm by changeing the regularity of the expected stride andyou can cause someone to stumble.

1. 
   toolpouchguy | Feb 08, 2010 06:42am | #9

   So here is the situation all the sets of cut stringers are glued screwed .drywalled .

   all the rises for each set are 7 11/16 or 7 3/4

   max code here is 7 7/8

   one set is out 1 1/16" at the top to high

   that is allowing for the one inch tread I think to make this work my rises will end up over 7 7/8.

   that is a no no the inspectors here check this all the time not that i would try and pull the wool over anyones eyes.

   I build stairs alot very careful with taking all my measurements.I normaly don't build ontop of somone elses work

   I just can't figure out how to gain 1" and keep a safe rise.

   I am going to layout a mitred stringer today maybe it will become clearer and I will have to cut new lvl's

1. 
   toolpouchguy1 | Feb 08, 2010 06:46am | #10

   Don't know how I have to user
   Don't know how I have to user names

1. 
   Piffin | Feb 08, 2010 07:13am | #11

   That would make more sense if you said "...two user names" instead of "...to user names"

   But don't worry about it too much, this whole forum is as screwed up as your stair layout lately

2. 
   roberttp | Feb 09, 2010 01:34pm | #13

   I'm still not quite sure if I
   I'm still not quite sure if I understand the exact problem with your stairs. I do suspect it has something to do with the finish floors not being allowed for and stringers adjusted accordingly by the framers, or some confusion as to how your stairs come together with the floor finishes. Here's what I'd suggest and what I'd do if I'm having a problem visualization some tricky or problematic things such as this:

   Take some pieces of your tread stock or some scrap of the same thickness. Put a mock up "tread" on to the first and second steps of your stair. Measure the rise from the the finish floor of the first level to starting tread, and starting to second tread. The measurements should be the same, and should continue to be the same on up the stringer. Now do the same from the last step to your finish floor of the second floor. Again, the same measurement is what you need. If the finished floors aren't in place you could again mock them up from scrap stock on hand.

   So then it's right there in front of you; the rough strings are right ( or close enough to be workable) or they are totally and utterly off by a mile and the stringers will need to be replaced.

   I don't think that shimming each tread will work as has been suggested. First you can't make the rise much higher. And adding 1/8 to each tread won't work as I understand it because your not actually moving the location of that top tread. If I interpret the code correctly the rises cant vary more than a 1/4 over the whole stair, not just consecutive rises.

   I hope this helps and I mean to be helpful not condescending at all. Sometime it hard to get a clear picture of the problem from a post. Just my two cents. Good luck. -Rob

7. 
   Mytrkut | Feb 07, 2010 12:08pm | #7

   We all should agree with compleatcarpenter...Usually, the finish floors are not allowed for...When fixing stairs, which is 99% of the time, unless I frame them, I get the top and bottom within an 1/8" to perfect, then either shim or cut off the rest of the stringers to work...New stringers usually won't work for my houses because of finished sheetrock under the stringers...I know most places have an allowance of 1/4" to 3/8" difference in the rise of the steps, but I really do my best to get within an 1/8"...A bonus of fixing stairs is you can level in all directions where the fast framers don't take the time too...This makes for a better set of stairs...Alex Just remember that tripping is dangerous...

1. 
   SpecRoubaix | Feb 09, 2010 03:27am | #12

   Under the IRC, and some other codes, your treads and landings can be sloped up to 2% (1 in 48. That's 3.33/16ths over a 10 inch run, max. I'm having a little trouble understanding your description of the stairs, but if you have 8 risers and need to make up 1" overall, then you can simply slope your treads 1/8" each.

   We build stairs now with LVLs and the like for stability. In the days of framing with green lumber, frame stringers that were cut square, plumb and level shrank across the grain enough that the treads were often 1/4" off of level after a couple of years. No one ever seemed to notice.