Outdoor Stairs Construction
If you are looking for outdoor stairs construction to beautify your landscape, then you are on the right page. To know all about building outdoor stairs, read this article.
How to Construct Outdoor Stairs
If you have decided on doing outdoor stairs construction yourself, then the first thing you need to do is to select a good outdoor stairs design and decide upon the material you want to construct it with. I would suggest that you choose a simple outdoor stairs design that it easy to construct. A simple outdoor stairs constructed out of wood is a good project to begin with for a novice carpenter. Now the next step would be to choose the wood you will build the stairs with. Some good wood for outdoor stairs are cedarwood, rosewood and oak. If you find that the wood is too expensive, then you can select a more rustic design that can be made with wooden rounds cut from large logs. These type of wooden rounds are not too expensive and give your landscape a very old world charm.
Now that you are all set and have your materials at hand, make sure that you have precise measurements for your steps. Let us first know more about the parts of a typical staircase and how to build stairs. A staircase consists of risers, treads and stringers. Treads are the top surface of a step and it is where we place our feet. It has to be sturdy enough to support our weight. Risers are the part of a stair that is installed directly under each tread. Stringers are the sloped boards that support the treads and risers in a staircase.
Now that you know all about the anatomy of outdoor stairs, let us get down to its measurement. First you have to measure the total rise which is the overall vertical height that the stairs have to cover. To do this, just lay a piece of plank or board from the top of the staircase to the landing position and measure the distance covered. If the total rise of the staircase is 64 inches, then you need to find the rise of each step as well as the number of steps. So divide 64 by 7 as 7 inches is the typical rise of one single step. So 64 divided by 7 is 9.14 which when rounded comes to 9. So you are going to construct 9 steps. In order to find the rise of each step, divide 64 by nine steps and you get 7.11 inches which is the rise of each step.
Once you have all the calculations at hand, double check them and then we can proceed for outdoor stairs construction. Before you lay out the steps in a 2 x 12 inches pattern, you need to decide how the stringers will join the upper portion of the stairs. The stringers are either mounted under the deck, attached to the joists or they are attached to the blocking placed between the joists. The stringers should then be cut lengthwise to reach the framing.
To construct the stringers mark the tread notches using a framing square which has been fitted with stair gauges. Stair gauges are very small brass fixtures that are clamped onto the square, which provides an accurate way for you to mark several identical notches. Clamp one of the stair gauge on the square's tongue that is directly at the rise dimension. Attach the other stair gauge to the body of the square at the run dimension. Now, place the square on the 2 x 12 square inches plank with the gauges pressed against the edge of the board and mark the treads and risers accurately. Slide the square down and mark all the threads and risers in a similar way. Cut the notches that you have just marked with the help of a circular saw and finish it with a handsaw. Now trim the bottom of the stringer for a finished edge.
Cut the risers to the required length which is 7.11 inches and fasten them to the stringers with decking screws. After you are done installing all the 9 risers, fasten all the treads with more screws. Leave a ¼ inch space in between the treads. Now attach outdoor stairs railings made of wooden planks by screwing them in place.
Once you have completed this simple project, you can try many more outdoor stairs ideas and designs for your home and garden.
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