Need ideas/advice

Let's not let the GC off too easily. Last week I installed three sets of spiral stairs. Not one of the floor to floor measurements provided by the GC was accurate. There was no blocking at the wall where my rail rosettes were to be mounted. The landing was out of level in two directions. The rock was bowed on the vertical face of the well at the landing. The drywall inside corners were fat by 3/8" in the well. There was no electricity within 100 feet of the work area.

Que lastima.

Regards,

Tom Watson

completion times often exaserbated by designers not advising them otherwise

"Tom Watson" wrote

Yep... the painter wields the builder's secret weapon of the last quarter of the 20th century:

"CAULK" ... it covers all sins.

... for a while.

...out here in SoCal there was a time when piece-work was the dominant mode of framing...this was during the tract-house boom in the 60's and

cg

It appears that there are quite a few folks with knowledge of and experience with building/re-building stairs.

I have a set in the house we purchased that are too steep for comfort.

They go from the basement up to the first floor (or visa versa) landing at the hallway running down the center of the first floor area and about 5 feet from the basement wall. It turns out that the treads are about 11" deep, but the rise varies a lot! The "landing" at the basement is 10" above the concrete floor. The first step is ten inches above the surface of the landing. The next couple of steps are about

No wonder they feel "weird."

At any rate, I need to rebuild them - once I remove a chimney they put right at the wall in front of the basement "landing." which will give me anther 22" of space to "stretch" the staircase (do you call it "depth?"), albeit having a "landing" that runs right into a block wall requiring one turn left or right to "enter" the basement once all the way down.

Funny, one of the reasons I came to the "out lands" was to get away from all those damned City/County "inspections" and permits and such so I could build or add on as I pleased w/o "interference" and fees. I spent about ninety dollars on materials to build a small fence on our FL property. Folks would stop by and compliment us on the improvement. Then the inspector came and demanded "plans" and a $55.00 "permit!" OIy vey!

Now, I suffer from the lack of permits, plans and building inspections that never would have "passed" these stairs! Can't win for losing.

At any rate, I am open to ideas and suggestions as to how best to proceed.

It appears that there are quite a few folks with knowledge of and experience with building/re-building stairs.

I have a set in the house we purchased that are too steep for comfort.

They go from the basement up to the first floor (or visa versa) landing at the hallway running down the center of the first floor area and about 5 feet from the basement wall. It turns out that the treads are about 11" deep, but the rise varies a lot! The "landing" at the basement is 10" above the concrete floor. The first step is ten inches above the surface of the landing. The next couple of steps are about

No wonder they feel "weird."

At any rate, I need to rebuild them - once I remove a chimney they put right at the wall in front of the basement "landing." which will give me anther 22" of space to "stretch" the staircase (do you call it "depth?"), albeit having a "landing" that runs right into a block wall requiring one turn left or right to "enter" the basement once all the way down.

Funny, one of the reasons I came to the "out lands" was to get away from all those damned City/County "inspections" and permits and such so I could build or add on as I pleased w/o "interference" and fees. I spent about ninety dollars on materials to build a small fence on our FL property. Folks would stop by and compliment us on the improvement. Then the inspector came and demanded "plans" and a $55.00 "permit!" OIy vey!

Now, I suffer from the lack of permits, plans and building inspections that never would have "passed" these stairs! Can't win for losing.

At any rate, I am open to ideas and suggestions as to how best to proceed.

...you're referring to "run" in staircutter terms...your treads are cut correctly for a 1" overhang leaving a 10" exposed tread (and if you cut them square with no lip you'll gain run), your risers are way out of whack. The extra run you'll get once the chimney is gone should get you an extra couple of treads and that will bring your risers into a more acceptable measurement.

...aw, what's a couple of projects, anyhow!?

cg

"Hoosierpopi" wrote

This a simple calculator that will give you some options to consider:

Also DAGS "stair calculator", as there are number of both free and pay versions of stair calculators on the web.

Here's the visual interpretation of the 2006 IRC.

Here's an alert for you....The visual interpretation of the 2000 IRC is here.

Mike O.

"Mike O." wrote

I doubt that is correct, since that has been no change in the "minimum tread depth" of 10", or the way it is measured, since at least IRC 2000:

IRC 2006:

R311.5.3.2 Tread depth. The minimum tread depth shall be 10 inches (254 mm). The tread depth shall be measured horizontally between the vertical planes of the foremost projection of adjacent treads and at a right angle to the tread's leading edge.

IRC 2003:

R311.5.3.2 Tread depth. The minimum tread depth shall be 10 inches (254 mm). The tread depth shall be measured horizontally between the vertical planes of the foremost projection of adjacent treads and at a right angle to the tread's leading edge.

IRC 2000:

R314.2 Treads and risers. The maximum riser height shall be 7-3/4 inches (196 mm) and the minimum tread depth shall be 10 inches (254 mm). The riser height shall be measured vertically between leading edges of the adjacent treads. The tread depth shall be measured horizontally between the vertical planes of the foremost projection of adjacent treads and at a right angle to the tread's leading edge.

That's because, as you can see above, there aren't any. :)

Thanks for all the info/education! I am may just install wood flooring over what is there. If I stick with 3/8" thickness I will be within code.

Thanks again,

cm

...the guy I learned from used a Mickey Mouse calculator...no kidding...with ears! LOL...he knew the rise and the run and knew his material thicknesses and the finish floor above...*I* went out and bought a stair book!

cg

I agree that there aren't any changes. The code really requires that you rip your treads at 11" minimum (assuming you have a 1" nose) but I've never seen an inspector fail a stair as long as the actual tread was ripped at 10".

Mike O.

"Mike O." wrote

I agree. IME these days, most wooden residential treads seem to be purchased "ready made" at 11 1/4" and the preponderance used as is. That might vary from region to region, but it is certainly the case down here.

Then again, this is a large metropolitan area with almost every jurisdiction therein heavily involved in "building standards" ... get out in the unincorporated areas, which are almost non-existent for 50 miles in any direction and you may well have a good bit of tread ripping to shoehorn a stairwell.

The big issues here are minimum width of a winder tread (6"), and arguments over the "walk line" when measuring same.

We've been down that road too. We've seen some framed that did not meet either the 6" min or the 10" at the walk line. Since the framing inspection is signed off before we get there, they somehow passed.

There are a few things in the stair codes that I don't quite understand. Why is there a 4" sphere rule between balusters on a guardrail (horizontal) and a 4 3/8" rule on open stairs? Also they allow 6" sphere in the pie of the run and rise (if you run a bottom rail) so why is that different than having a 6" space between balusters?

Mike O.

Fortunately, they aren't all like that. Leon, the guy that did the framing in my last addition, seemed to work in thousandths. He is a Carpenter.

-- Doug