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How to Lay Out Stringers

Stairs are everywhere and they have been for thousands of years. They are essentially a simple concept where you divide the distance between two elevations and place steps in between that are more easily managed than the original rise. While stairs can be made from concrete, metal and various other materials, most stairs people construct themselves involve wood and stringers. Stringers are the framing of the stairs and laying them out is the most difficult aspect of stair building.

Things You'll Need

  • Tape measure
  • Wood stock
  • Framing square
  • Stair gauges or straight edge and clamps
  • Pencil
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Instructions

    • 1

      Determine the rise and the run for your stringers. The rise is the measurement from your upper landing to the ground and the run is the measurement that determines where the lower landing point will be.

    • 2

      Determine how many steps you will have and then divide the total rise by the number of steps. This will determine the rise for each step. If you are building deck stairs and have not installed the decking on the deck, this is simple, but if you have already put the decking on, factor in the thickness of the treads when doing this math.

    • 3

      Determine the run for each step. For deck stairs, this is often determined by the width of the decking you are using minus half an inch for an overhang.

    • 4

      Attach a stair gauge to each side of the framing square. On one side measure off the run for each step and on the other mark the rise for each step. If you do not have gauges for your square, attach the square to a straight edge with clamps so you have the rise on one side and the run on the other.

    • 5

      Mark the top step by placing the square at one end of the your stock and tracing the rise and run with a pencil. Extend each of these lines so they go the entire width of the board. You will be cutting away everything on the outside of these lines.

    • 6

      Continue marking the stairs by placing the square along the board. The pencil marks from the previous run you marked should hit the pencil mark for the rise below it.

    • 7

      Mark off the bottom step in the same manner as the top step. Continue each line and cut away the material on the outside of the lines.

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Home Additions
  1. How to Lay Out a Staircase
  2. How to Lay Out Stair Stringers for a Deck
  3. How to Make Stairs Out of a Box
  4. How to Trim Out Stairs
  5. How to Lay Stairs With a Steel Square
  6. How to Lay Out Wooden Steps
  7. How to Lay Out Wall Ledges
  8. How Do I Lay Out Stairs?
  9. How to Lay Out Trusses
  10. How to Lay Out Deck Stairs
  11. How to Estimate Stairs
  12. How to Lay Out Brick Steps

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