Deck stair stringers?? - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

bujaly · 08-03-2007, 11:24 PM

This might be a stupid question, but where do you buy deck stringers from? I live in the Baltimore area if that helps? I don't generally work on decks, but I have a customer that wants to put in some steps and this is my first step in my estimate to see what the cost are going to be and I can't find the damn things..

wolffhomerepair · 08-04-2007, 05:15 AM

I would recommend cutting your own. The ones from the stores tend to be not the best cut ones. Also they are generic sized and may not fit your application perfectly. Figure out your rise and run and go from there.

woodbutchr · 08-04-2007, 08:33 AM

The big boxes should have them beside the PT handrails

**framerman** · 08-04-2007, 09:33 AM

Yeah, those ones are generic though. Unless you have a perfect fit, they most likely don't work for your specific situation. I would cut them as wolff said if you know how to. If you need these approved by the city inspector, then you almost would need to custom cut them.

Depending on how much height you have there, I always tend to do my stair treads deeper than usual. Just something being outside seems to me to need this. Like 11-12" min. stair depth nose to nose.

RobertCDF · 08-04-2007, 09:34 AM

You cant buy a set of stringers and expect them to fit UNLESS you pour your concrete pad after you have put them in. Even then they only sell 2 sizes that I have seen and for the most part they are completly worthless.

I personally would not be caught dead buying pre cuts even if the rise and run was exactly what I needed.

bujaly · 08-04-2007, 10:18 AM

Alright.. That's actually an option that i knew about, but DIDNT know that the store bought were crappy.
What should wood I be using, standard pressure treated 2"x10"'s or 2x12's for better rigidity?
Also, framerman... What do you mean by???
"Depending on how much height you have there, I always tend to do my stair treads deeper than usual. Just something being outside seems to me to need this. Like 11-12" min. stair depth nose to nose."

Also, this is a row home in Baltimore. What I am doing is taking out the current stairs, that have a landing first, then run down, (this will free up around 5 feet) so that they can park a car in the back. I am basically just taking everything out except for the current ledger board and just putting stairs that run straight down from the back door. Any thoughts on what not to do or any helpful suggestions?

thom · 08-04-2007, 10:33 AM

Can't do it. You must have a proper landing at the top. Codes are critical here. You don't get it right and you deserve the lawsuit you will get when someone trips/falls and gets hurt.

bujaly · 08-04-2007, 11:46 AM

If I was to look into the code of B-More city Thom. What search terms do you suggest? Cause I am looking and cant find anything about there needing to be a landing. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'd like to see that in the codes.
The link is the title, just put the http in front of it...

RobertCDF · 08-04-2007, 12:09 PM

As far as I know the landing outside a door needs to be a min 18" but you would need 36" at the bottom of the stairs. The 36" does not need to be concrete just needs to be flat 3' in the dirrection of travel at the bottom of the stairs.

PT 2x12's are what you are going to want to cut them out of.

bujaly · 08-04-2007, 12:25 PM

So you're saying when the person walks out, there needs to be a min of 18" solid surface before the steps start to descend? As far as the bottom of the steps, they will just fall onto a concrete slab.

JustaFramer · 08-04-2007, 12:26 PM

Baltimore is using IBC for building look under 1003.3.3.3 they have exceptions to stair building. As in allowing 8 1/4" riser heigth and 9" thread depth.

The link you supplied is just the changes that baltimore had done to the IBC. You will need the IBC coae book the build those stairs to code.

Also considering that you are building these stair and not replacing them isn't that out of the scope of work for a handyman? I don't really care but get a permit read the first part of that link you post in part two those that is the fine schedule.

wink · 08-04-2007, 01:50 PM

don't you have to submit a set of plans for your permit in Baltimore, if your plans are wrong the code enforcement will let you know what you need to do to make it work, i am about to go on a little rant here and it is not ment to belittle you at all. i hope you the best in this project and the future, but there are to many people in my area that don't go threw the proper prosedures to do work, so that they can under bid the guy that is trying to be a professional, run a respectable buisness and feed his family, actually i'm going to stop before i get misunderstood. if you are careful taking the old stairs down you might be able to use those as a pattern. if you use the same materials for treads and risers if they are inclosed. be sure to have a solid landing, and for your customers safty and ease of use give them a landing big enough to have room to open the door without nocking themselves off the stairs. i think home depot sells a book about decks for not much money, might help a little, in how to attach the stairs. just curious to know how much lower your bid was than a guy with his name on the truck, again good luck and hope it works out for you sorry i mean how much lower it is going to be than the guy with his name on his truck

bujaly · 08-04-2007, 02:20 PM

Wink, Wink, Wink, my man!
You should stop assuming things, cause assuming makes an asss out of you and you !!
When you said,

Quote:

i am about to go on a little rant here and it is not ment to belittle you at all.

that's fine, but you completely ruined it by ending that with

Quote:

just curious to know how much lower your bid was than a guy with his name on the truck, again good luck and hope it works out for you sorry i mean how much lower it is going to be than the guy with his name on his truck

First off, this is a friend that I am doing this for and he wont let me do it for free, he wants to pay. Since he does want to pay, I highly encouraged him to get other bid/estimates.

2nd off, if I do the work, he doesn't care about permits and it's a SMALL job. It's not like I'm building a roof top deck here and I want to build stairs that go 3 stories down.

3rd off, I actually do have my name on the truck, insured, licensed and am about as honest as they come. That's my business philosophy.. "Relentless in reliability and Satisfaction!"

4th, and this isn't meant to belittle you, but you should learn how to spell if you want to be as professional as you are making yourself out to be. Customers might be a little concerned if you don't know how to spell everyday words in the trade business. Words like,

ment
prosedures
nocking
safty
inclosed
buisness

wink · 08-04-2007, 02:29 PM

point well made. i should not have assumed, and you are correct i will not ever win a spelling bee, but i can build a set of stairs

bujaly · 08-04-2007, 02:32 PM

haha.. you've got me beat on the stair part.. I'll give you that..

**framerman** · 08-04-2007, 05:07 PM

I would think the minimum stair landing required would be at least 36x36. There's also requirements for how much of a step up from the surface of the deck to your door threshold they allow before they call it an actual step. Go over that, then they might require you to have a landing first, then the step.

What I said there was a little confusing, you're right. What I mean is that depending on how high your total rise is for the deck, I usually make sure I have a deep tread depth. If say for instance you have 3 risers, then it's not so important. If you have 7 or more, then I like to make sure my depth of treads is like 11-12" from nosing to nosing.

Inside of a home is one thing. When you get outside, you have more of a tendency to run, or go faster and having a nice deep tread to step on so you don't slip is nice. The 10" minimum tread outside to me is just not enough.

Chris G · 08-04-2007, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by framerman

I like to make sure my depth of treads is like 11-12" from nosing to nosing.

What rise do you use with that? 5-6"? I always worry about cutting too deep into the 2 x 12.

thom · 08-04-2007, 06:24 PM

Buy yourself a code book and read it before doing any work. This is the rule book under which we all work. It states clearly

"There shall be a floor or landing on each side of each exterior door" "The width of each landing shall not be less than the door served. Every landing shall have a minimum dimension of 36" measured in the direction of travel".

This is really basic stuff. Cutting stair stringers is really basic stuff. Rise and run are really basic stuff. If you must ask, you are not qualified. There are way to many variables to get it correct off a forum. Issues that must be dealt with include: means of attachment to residence, flashing to protect ledgers, joist sizing and spacing, pier depth and dimension, post spacing off concrete, concrete pad at bottom of steps (yes this is required). The list could go on and on.

You don't get to rebuild to the old code. When you demo and replace, you build the replacement to current code. Read it. If you don't understand it, hire someone to design it for you. Incompetence is not a valid excuse when you get sued.

RobertCDF · 08-04-2007, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thom

concrete pad at bottom of steps (yes this is required).

No it is not REQUIRED... Recomended yes. But required no... In fact most places do not even require the 36" in direction of travel on deck stairs. Go ahead look around at most of the deck builder websites around and you will see many that just go off onto uneven ground.

jiggyjack · 08-04-2007, 07:40 PM

In Minnesota 36" x 36" is required.

go with the 7/11 rule hard to go wrong.