stairs

Riser/Stringer Stairs with Outside Corners

The framing for stringer stairs with outside corners is similar in every way to standard stringer stairs, except at the corner. Space stringer every 16” OC and mount them using drop blocks as described in the stair building section. When calculating corner miters, take the angle of the corner, for example a 45° corner is made up of two 22 ½ ° miters. The risers, or toe kicks, get mitered at the corners where the meet the riser coming from the opposite angle of the corner.

Wood Riser Stairs

Calculating Stair Rise

Use a string and string level to determine the height of the stairs.

Anatomy of a Step

Steps are made up of three main parts. The top of a step is known as the “tread”. The “riser”, also sometimes known as the “toe kick” is the front face of a stair that runs from the top of the stair below, to the bottom of the tread. Many deck stairs have no risers, having open space under the tread instead. A “stringer” is the diagonal support running along each side of stairs in traditional stair construction.