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Ask the Builder: Building Strong, Simple Stairs

It’s important to understand the structure of a set of stairs before you get out your saw and framing square.
Ask the Builder: Building Strong, Simple Stairs
The flat stair treads shown here are mortised into the angled 2x12 board known as a stair stringer. Stringers serve the same purpose as the floor joists in your home. Tim Carter/Tribune Content Agency
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You may be like most folks. I’m guessing you give very little thought to the stairs you go up and down on a regular basis. They might be constructed from wood, steel, or concrete. The vast majority of stairs in residential homes are made from wood.

Wood is very easy to work with, and it can create very strong stairs. I stood just 10 feet away from a marvelous circular staircase made from wood. It was in the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This staircase has no center support column. Many feel that’s a miracle, but the truth is no central support column is required. The two twisted helical stair stringers that support the treads are the structural beams that support the stairs and anyone going up and down them.

Tim Carter
Tim Carter
Author
Tim Carter is the founder of AsktheBuilder.com. He's an amateur radio operator and enjoys sending Morse code sitting at an actual telegrapher's desk. Carter lives in central New Hampshire with his wife, Kathy, and their dog, Willow. Subscribe to his FREE newsletter at AsktheBuilder.com. He now does livestreaming video M-F at 4 PM Eastern Time at youtube.com/askthebuilder. (C)2022 Tim Carter. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.