Deck Stair Building How-To

Yeah, we really need to build some stairs, don't we?

Every time I've ever tackled stairs in the past, it's been quite a bit of figuring.  

Well, go figure (pun not intended), someone comes up with a stair building app.  I've lost my purpose in life.  

Just fill in the blanks, like how tall the overall rise is, what your tread thickness is, how deep your treads will be ..

And out comes your stringer pattern, complete with how much to cut off the bottom, where to tie in, everything!

How slick is that?  I definitely recommend letting the computer do your stair figuring!

Once we had our stringers figured, we need to transfer the pattern on to our 2x12 boards.

Using a square, we adjust the markers so the rise and tread length are positioned on the outside of the square.

Then we use the square to with markers to mark out each rise and tread on the 2x12 stringer boards.

Once the stringers are all marked,

We cut with a circular saw on the lines.

The circular saw won't cut all the way through on the lines (because of the round blade),

So we use a jigsaw to finish the corner cuts.  

Since this is an exterior application, we need to seal the cut edges to prevent the wood from rotting.

We use WOODLIFE CopperCoat to seal the cut edges.  We will also seal the cut ends of the treads later on.

Speaking of treads ....

We cut those out of 2x6 exterior boards (and sealed the cut ends).

Then we attach the stringers together with blocking, and then attach the blocking to the deck.

Now we can start adding the tread boards.

First we screw down the inner tread board,

And then use carpenter's pencils to space the second tread board and screw it down.

Now the kids can use the stairs to get off the decks.

Or use the stairs to climb up the deck so they can jump off.

Happy Building!

Ana + Family