Is it as simple as selecting flush landing but drop the stringer down to Crete the flush landing at the bottom.

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Shorten the bottom of the stringer by thickness of tread - when calculating rise from finish height to finish height.

 

That's not what I'm trying to figure out.

 

You need to figure out what the rise for each step is to have it land on the top of the deck. Then you need to add that rise your rough rise number.

That will then put the bottom of the stringer that far below the level of the other deck. Leave the run the same and by adding one more rise it shrinks the run of each step.

There lies the problem though. You end up with a rise and run that are almost equal. Code is a 7 3/4" rise max and 10" run minimum. You can't get that with your numbers and dropping to a flush landing at the bottom. That makes it even steeper.

 

I can put stringers on top of current deck but cosmetically it would look better flush at bottom.

So if I measure down from rough rise on top of joist the amount my riser is at that point then mark that on the rim joist then I will have roughly 7.5" more rough rise and that will give me a flush landing rough rise.

I'm confusing my self now. Might be a sketch up time

 

Yes. But then you end up with more rise than run. You can't meet code and do that. You are going to have to land it on the deck which would increase your run. And then it's just a matter of how far out into the deck the stairs need to go to the the 7 3/4" max rise and 10" min run.

 

So, your saying that the deck should have actually extended towards the steps another 10"? Basically, you are just using algebra here. Not sure how that works on your calculator, but you are trying to find what is essentially "unknown" at this point.

If you take your total rise from top of deck to top of landing and add 8", this will give you an approximate total rise. You can then divide that total by 8 to give you the total number of risers. In your case, you will have the exact amount of actual treads and risers, instead of the usual, "one more riser than tread.

I think I just confused the whole thread now.

 

Yup, you confused it. Unless I'm missing something, the only way those numbers work and meet code is for the stairs to land out on the landing.

 

Barri, plug in your rough rise and run. Then input 10" for desired tread width, then go back and put 0" for the rough run.

Doing that calculates the run of the stairs based on the desired rise and desired run. Your desired rise and run need to be 7 3/4" and 10". Those are the most extreme numbers they can be and meet code.

For your deck, the issue is they are too close together and the height difference is too much to do anything other than land on the deck. It will tell you a run of 110" with a rise of 7 3/16".

 

 

So onto the next question. When laying this out in the future would I build the stairs first then the other deck or is there another way to make stairs and platforms work out

 

I am sure you could build one platform and then mock up one stringer to clarify where the other deck/landing should go. I don't do the whole Buildcalc thing, so for me, having the actual stringer there makes it a slam dunk every single time.

 

See when doing a platform like this what gets calculated first?

 

I got my own stair issues to deal with. This second story stairs in this house do not connect to the outside wall. We will be doing a structural stringer make out of a steel oval on each side.

 

Horizontal surfaces first, then the stairs. The stairs can be cut to fit between the surfaces.

Tom

 

Yeah, but it's nice to plan ahead when you can so that both elements work out perfect. Especially if there is no restraint on where one of the horizontal surfaces needs to be.

 

For layout, Barri, think of the platform as a single step. When you're using BuildCalc for the layout it's really easy to tweak all the numbers and it does the calcs for you.

So if you want a set of stairs with a 4' landing in the middle, once you have the rise and run figured out as if the landing wasn't there, then add 4' to the run. Use a rotary laser to check the elevation at the end of the run.

The ground is never level so if you add 4' it will change elevation and you will need to adjust numbers. The idea is to find where it lands, then measure the total height, and it gives you numbers to play with in the app.

That will help you know where to pour concrete for stringers to land on if that's what you do. If you want to use the app for layout of the stringer, you have to then change the rise to what it needs to whatever it is to the bottom of the upper stringer and same for the lower for the layout diagram and measurements to be right.

Hopefully that makes sense...

 

Usually sketchup. In practice, I'd do it like Warren. Put up a temporary frame and stringer.

Also, you would need the platform to extend under the stairs or there wouldn't be anything to catch the heel if your stringer.

 

This is darn good thread! :thumbsup:

 

I agree this is real helpful even though I don't understand half of it.

 

I agree Tom. I guess all I was saying is look at it all when planning, not just build the decks and then try and make stairs work with no planning.

 

This us where doing my sales models in RLA and my final drawings in Sketchup pays off.

Horizontal is pretty easy. 10.5" per tread.

 

I always do sketch up to try and get around issues like this but this situation was fixed heights from the start which def made things harder.

 

I used to always calculate everything to a tee and build the landings first and then the stringers to 'fit'.

This year I started attaching the stringers first, working with temp framing, etc and it's been much much easier.

Just my 2 cents but if you can temp it up first I'd do it

 

Attached the stringers up top first then built the landing off that, same for the lower. Took a day and a half because of Crete dry time for posts

 

I want a flush landing at the bottom deck. So basically I want my last tread on bottom tread to be flush with lower deck tread.

What in the heck does this mean?? I'm pretty good with math and with english, but I got nothing from this

 

A flush landing is a step on the stringer that is same level as the existing deck. 99% of stringers first step is normally a step down from the landing.

 

Did you wrap your ribbon joist there, Select? I like that.

 

I hate to say this but what's a ribbon joist

 

Oh, so instead of the stringer sitting on the deck surface it's fastened to the joists and protrudes through the decking?

 

Build a set of stairs, and then place the set of stairs where the finished tread of the bottom step is the same height of the lower deck board.

 

exactly...the deckboards act as the part of a typical riser that gets cut off to compensate for the first tread

 

So you would layout a stringer as normal with the top of that first riser as your starting point and don't remove the height of the tread from the bottom riser.

 

 

A dog with a jacked up head?