Building steps in old home

[Buckcreek]

My Dads old farmhouse is getting some much needed repairs to the living room. The steps going up to the second floor have a tall step for each one , What is the standard height of a normal step, and how do you fig how many you need. This is probably a stupid question but i am no carpenter. LOL.

[crb478]

You are dealing with treads and risers and these are set by code in your jurisdiction, however a good rule of thumb is 7 inches of rise and 11 inches of tread. This will get you in the ballpark. Since it is a older house the stairs may be steeper than are now allowed. Some inspectors will let you reconstruct or repair what ever was origionally there assuming a inspector will ever see this project. To figure out what your rise and tread will be you first need to get a measurement of the total height from one floor to the next measured at each end of the stairs and the the total length you have to work with. Get a calculator out and try to get as close to the 7/11 figure as you can within your measurements. Wider treads and lowers risers are preferred It is important to keep the steps all the same. Hope this makes since.

[Buckcreek]

Yes understand what you are talking about , but inspectors will not be involved, really rural area. Dad said the reason the steps are so high is because of room to put them but i will do the measuring and math tommorrow. Thanks for the help. Old houses are fun to work on, and expensive. Dad rebuild the back half of the house around 6 years ago, then mom passed away and he just didnt have the heart to keep working on it , but its a have to poin now.

[Junkman]

If you have the room at the bottom of the stairs, you can make them in a L shape with a landing after the first 3 or 4 steps. This will give you more room to get control of the steepness of the stairs. Doing the lay out for the stair stringers is always a problem if you are not experienced with carpentry. You might want to get a experienced carpenter in for a day to help with this project unless you are just going to copy what is already there.....

[2nstonge]

The L-shape with a landing is exactly we did. When we bought our old farm house access to the 2nd floor was by a steep home-made ladder - no kidding - the previous owner lived there for 40 years and raised 5 kids with it like that. A straight run of stairs would have meant blowing out a wall into the dining room. The L-shape worked perfect. I contracted the job out, building stairs and railings is as much science as art.

-Norm

[EddieWalker]

According to the International Residential Code, year 2003, the maximum riser height shall not exceed 7 3/4 inches and the minimum tread depth is 10 inches. All measurements are to be withing 3/8 of each other.

You have a steep rise due to the limited space available. How tall are your steps? 7 1/2 inches is a really nice, comfortable step, but you could get away with 8 inches if you really had to.

How long are you steps? This length determines how far out your stairs will protrude. I just build a stairway with 8 inch steps. No code to worry about, and it lined up perfectly with the small space I have.

In some older homes, I've seen the steps smaller then the rise. Especially in old mansions with servents stairs in the back someplace.

The problem with small steps is coming down. It becomes real easy to slip on a small step and get hurt. 8 inches is way under code, but the minimum I'm comfortable with.

Eddie

[jim_wilson]

The other thing to bear in mind is that outside steps are typically setup with less rise and more run than inside steps. For instance if you go looking for granite steps (popular in the New England area) they are typically 6 inches thick. I read a number of articles about stair design over the last few years and apparently exterior steps are like this because you are usually walking faster when outside than when you are inside - so your gait is longer - and therefore the shorter rise with longer run feels more natural.

[Slamfire]

I put 8" risers on the porch steps, my wife, her sister and the cleaning lady all ganged up on me, saying they were too steep. Tore the whole mess down and added one riser, they all agree they are just right now. They are all old ladies and fussy. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[Junkman]

Maybe you should have saved yourself a lot of future work and just provided them with a "handicap ramp".... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[theonlybull]

an old standby for building stairs, is that the rise, and run add up to 16-18" 7 x10 falls right in this. 8x8 isn't bad. we use this formula for industrial stairs, where quite often there isn't room for 7 x10. 9 x9 feel quite natural, although a little steep. too long of a tread can feel very weird too.