How to Install a Stringer

The stringers make up a major portion of a staircase.

One of the basic steps of building stairs for your home or deck is installing the stringers. Stringers serve as a major structural member for most, if not all staircases, providing support for the stair risers and treads. Stringers usually consist of two or more specially cut pieces of lumber that extend from one floor to the next. Once the stringers are in place, you can finish the staircase build by installing the risers and treads onto the stringers.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Hammer
• Measuring tape
• Nail gun
• Power drill
• Socket wrench

Instructions

1. Mark the planned location of the stringers with a pencil. Make sure the stringers are 36 inches apart from each other.

2. Move the stair stringer into position and hold it in place with a single nail. Use a hammer to drive the nail through the backside of the floor or deck and into the end of the stringer, but only far enough to provide temporary support.

3. Measure the top and bottom riser section of the stringers with measuring tape. If the measurements are off for your application, make corrections to all of the stringers you plan to install before proceeding further.

4. Drive the nail completely into the end of the stringer through the backside of the floor or deck. Secure the stringer with additional nails, using a nail gun. If you want to use lag bolts instead, remove the nail from the stringer with the hammer's claw end. Use a power drill to create a hole through the floor or deck and into the end of the stringer. Insert a lag bolt into the hole and use a socket wrench to tighten it into place. Repeat the process until all of the stringers are in place.

Tips & Warnings

• To prevent serious injury, always wear eye protection when using tools.

References

• "How to Build Strait Stairs"; Greg Vanden Berge; 2011
• "How To: Building a Deck"; Hometime Video Publishing, Inc.; 2011