How to Make Wood Steps

Wooden stairways need to be evenly spaced.

Building steps is not difficult, but it does require attention to detail. A good staircase needs to be sturdy and safe. It also needs to be geometrically consistent, with treads and risers that are predictable to the feet to avoid tripping. Wood steps can be built independently and set into a hillside, concrete or other mediums, but are most frequently built as part of a staircase with wooden stringers underneath them and a handrail for convenience and safety.

Things You'll Need

• Lumber
• Circular saw
• Hand saw
• Framing square
• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Hammer
• 3-inch nails
• 2-1/2-inch screws

Instructions

Lay Out the Stringers

1. Measure the distance from the bottom point where your staircase is going to begin to the top point where it is going to connect with the upper floor or landing. This measurement will be the length of the top edge of your stringer. The stringer is the piece of wood cut in a zig-zag pattern that sits underneath the stairway and has the treads and risers attached to it.

2. Lay out where your steps will go using the framing square. The framing square is used to be sure that your steps will sit horizontally in relation to the pitch of your stringers. For example, if your stairway goes up 9 inches in every 7 horizontal inches, lay the framing square on the stringer with the point in the middle of the stringer, and align the 7-inch mark on one blade and the 9-inch mark on the other blade against the edge of the stringer. Trace the lines of the framing square onto the stringer.

3. Replicate the lines that you have made in a series along the stringer. These lines represent the treads and risers of your staircase.

Build the Staircase

1. Cut along the lines that you have drawn on the stringer with a circular saw. Don't overcut at the corners, just cut up to the corners with the circular saw, then finish the cut with a handsaw.

2. Trace the outline of this stringer onto another board and cut it out so they match. You now have two stringers on which to attach your treads and risers.

3. Construct risers to fit the width stairway that you want to construct. A riser is the vertical piece of wood that covers the openings in the stairway between the treads. Attach the risers to the stringers with nails or screws.

4. Make stair treads that are 2 inches longer and 1 inch wider than the surface on which they will be attached on top of the risers. This will give the treads an overhang when you attach them.

5. Attach the treads to the risers using nails or screws.

References

• Face Lift Floors: Building Wood Stairs
• Popular Mechanics: How to Build Your Own Stairs in 3 Easy Steps
• Bob Vila: Stairbuilding Basics