In conjunction with raising the floor to add the bathroom to this home, I would need to build some new steps at the end of the hall leading down into the den. For stairs, this is about as basic as you get. Walls on both sides with no turns or obstacles to consider.
With any stairway, I need to spend some time doing math before I start cutting any lumber. There are some basic guidelines to building steps and I covered them more thoroughly in this post.
The height of the new floor dictated that I would need 4 steps, each one with 6 1/2″ rise. This is comfortable height so that works great. I would make each of the treads 11″ deep.
I cut three stringers out of treated 2×12 boards. I fit them in place to test the fit before I nailed anything. Using a level, I could tell that the concrete floor wasn’t quite level making one of my stringers higher than the others. To fix this, I shave a little extra off the bottom of the stringer and added shims where needed. In order to have level steps I have to have level stringers!
After the stringers were in place, I added some cross supports to add more strength under the treads that would be plywood and possibly covered with carpet later. I also applied a bead of Liquid Nails Adhesive before nailing the treads down. All of this helps to prevent squeaks later and give the homeowner a solid set of stairs.
Next we’ll work on a set of winder stairs… stay tuned!
-Peter
