Building Stairs for Dummies

Interior stairway

We've always figured that one of the reasons so many houses have just a single story is that any idiot can frame a wall, but it takes a craftsman to build stairs. Ba-dump-bump... But seriously, stairs are a true pain in the tuchus to build. If you'd like to see an idiot's approach to stair building, however, you don't need to look any further than Liz O'Donnell and the article she posted at LovetoKnow.com she claimed would tell you "How to Build Stairs."¹ Unfortunately, she lied...

O'Donnell, an interior decorator – not exactly what we'd think of when asked for a profession that knows a lot about framing carpentry – vomited out 574 words in her article. She opened by telling her readers that...

"Learning how to build stairs is one of the most challenging activities a do- it-yourselfer will learn. Before starting the process, it is important to define a few key terms..."

...after which she spent 75 words defining terminology, including mis-defining a riser as "The vertical height difference between two steps" (it's the vertical board between two steps). Next, she burned through another 212 words blathering about "Key Considerations." Her use of the word "considerations" suggests that Liz has spent some time writing for eHow.com.... In her "considerations," O'Donnell explains that the ideal staircase has "...a rise of 6" with a run of 12"... The preferred angle for a staircase is around 30 - 35 degrees..." ...which, sadly, is wrong: the standard (or as close as there is to a "standard") is a 7-inch rise and an 11-inch run, give or take. Too bad no one knows where Liz got her misinformation...

But finally, O'Donnell gets to the hard part: how to actually build a staircase. By this time, she's down to about 75 words for the actual construction techniques. Unfortunately, Liz's instructions are... brief:

"Secure the stringers in place, first by nailing them to the top floor trim joist or beam, and the bottom floor. Next install the steps, or treads, to the stringers starting at the bottom."

Yup, that's all she wrote: she reduces one of the most difficult tasks in framing carpentry to a mere 34 words! That's not to mention the word "beam," another suggestion that she came from eHow...

Despite telling her readers that "Building Stairs [sic] requires some skill," it's dead certain that O'Donnell does not have said skill. You know what she does have, though? She has a well-deserved Dumbass of the Day award from the Antisocial Network.

¹ The original has been deleted by the website, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   homeimprovement.lovetoknow.com/How_to_Build_Stairs

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DDIY - STAIRS