Building Porch Steps for Dummies

stair rise and run

One of the reasons we started this blog a couple of years ago is that we were tired of finding alleged how-to and informational articles that had been written by complete hacks. The Demand Media family of websites (now Leaf Group) is responsible for a lot of that dreck, probably because their gatekeepers (called "content editors") were long on nit-picking format and short on fact-checking statements. We have hundreds of examples so far, and new ones come in every day; posts like "Easy to Build Steps for a Porch,"¹ which Sienna Condy tackled on eHow.com.

The truth is, steps aren't ever "easy" to build, but there are ways to make the process easier. One of those tricks of the trade is to use pre-cut stringers, which are available at any decent lumberyard in a variety of sizes. Sienna, unfortunately, didn't learn this while getting her English degree, nor did her fellow English laureate in the content editor's seat. No, Condy found a slew of resources online (five of them) and carefully plucked words from each one to avoid charges of plagiarism.

We note that Sienna did address the pre-cut stringer concept, at least obliquely... though not accurately:

"If you don't have the time to cut out and install all the pieces to the steps yourself, consider purchasing an outdoor staircase kit or pre-made steps from your local home improvement store."

We searched our "local home improvement store" (online) and their only staircase kits are spiral stairways (interior only) and they have nothing called "pre-made steps." They do, however, have lots of stringers...

OK, for Condy's instructions: Sienna has general comments about width which, she says, "[A]ffects everything from the number of stringers you need to hold the staircase up to the length of the plank boards [sic] that typically make up the stair treads..." to rise and run. Those last two sections, by the way, are where Condy makes it crystal clear that she has no idea what she's writing about: "Figuring the Run: Before you can beginning building your steps, you'll need to figure the run -- or how high the steps will reach from the ground to the top of the stairs." "Figuring the Rise: The rise of the step is the difference from the surface of one step to the step above it."

Uh, no, Sienna, those are both wrong: the rise is the total height of the stairway (ground to porch deck) and the run is the total horizontal length of the stairway. It's the same as rise and run in algebra... oh, wait: you probably didn't take math to get that English degree, did you.

Most of the remainder of Condy's post is boilerplate copy-paste-reword, except for this winner in the section called Cutting Stringers:

"To keep the rise of the stair accurate, cut away some of the top of the stair where the tread will sit based on your tread boards. For example, if you're using 2-by-6 boards to form your treads, you'll need to cut away approximately 1 1/2-inches from the top of each stair to keep the rise close."

Uh, yeah, Sienna: did it not occur to you that every step on that stringer will support a tread of the same thickness? No, we suppose not; and ignorance like that is why someone like Sienna Condy receives the Dumbass of the Day award every day.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/info_7994291_easy-build-steps-porch.html

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DDIY - STAIRS