Building New Basement Stairs (lots of pictures)

[Frank Pellow]

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Over the last couple of months I have been working on renovating the basement in my daughter Kathleen’s 80 year old house in downtown Toronto.

This thread shows the sub-project where I replaced her basement stairs. I know that these stairs are not the works of art that some folks here at Saw Mill Creek, but they are good stairs, my daughter likes them, and I am proud of the job that I did. Also, I got to see if my Festool multi-function table (MFT), could make the job easier/better.

I know that this is not fine woodworking, but it certainly is woodworking. :D

00) First of all, the existing stairs were temporarily narrowed in order to provide access for some guys who are doing a waterproofing job. They needed access to the walls

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01) Now to build the new stairs!

I decided that it would be easier to do this in my shop than in Kathleen’s very crowded basement. The first task was to reconfigure the MFT) so that the fence was at a 45 degree angle to the guide rail.

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Notice that one end of the fence had to be held in position with a hold-down clamp. My Nobex square with stops at 45 and 135 degrees in addition to the “:regular” 90 degrees came in very handy here (and also in many of the following steps).


(02) A 45 degree cut was made at one end of the stringer.

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(03) Grooves for the steps were cut with a router. The grooves were too wide for and of my router bits, so two passes were needed for each groove. For each groove, first the bottom (rightmost on the MFT) position was marked then, with this as a reference, lines were marked to the left to be used in order to position the guide rail for the two cuts.

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[Frank Pellow]

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04) The guide rail was positioned on the line drawn for the rightmost cut.

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05) And the cut was made with the router.

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06) The bottom of the next groove was measured. In order that any errors in one groove did not propagate themselves to the next groove all these measurements used the bottom of the stringer as a base-point.

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07) With one stringer completed, the MFT had to be reconfigured in order to work on the other stringer (which was a mirror image of the first).

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08) Having cut all the steps (again from 2 x spruce) and the risers (from construction grade 1 x 8 pine), I then did a dry assembly in my shop. Everything fit well!

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[Frank Pellow]

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09) In Kathleen’s basement, nothing is even or level, not the original walls, nor the floor, nor the ceiling, nor the brick pillar you can see in the picture below, nor edge that I needed to connect the stairs to. I needed to pull/push/persuade everything into place with clamps/spreaders/hammers/bars and to use shims. For example there is a, 1.5 inch shim below the right hand stringer where it meets the cement floor.

Somehow :confused:, I managed to get all the steps level. :)

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(10) It was necessary to cut angles on the sides of the risers before screwing them into place. But quarter round at the sides hides this flaw. In order to provide more rigidity, notches were cut into the stringers for the balusters.

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(11) Here is how things looked when I temporarily packed up work for a week to be spent elsewhere.

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(12) Here a baluster is being driven into position with a hammer block. There is a dowel projecting from the bottom of each baluster which goes into a hole drilled in each of the slots. Also a long screw was dilled from the stringer through the base of the baluster then into the stringer on the other side.

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[Art Mulder]

Frank, I dunno. Kids grow up pretty darn fast these days. Isla looks like she is shooting up like a weed. Are you sure you can afford to wait until Autumn to work on that secret hideout? :p

Nice job on the stairs. Good call also, on whoever put in that dimpled membrane on the wall. Actually, it is far better than a nice job. The balusters, actually notched into the sides. Amazing amount of precision there. What do you mean that isn't Fine Woodworking? It sure is Fine Homebuilding at least...

best,
...art

[Steve Clardy]

Looking good Frank. Guess I never seen balusters attached directly to a stair stringer like that. Good idea!!

[Christian Aufreiter]

Hi Frank,

thanks for sharing the documentation of this interesting project. Great job – as usual.
Did you buy or turn the balusters?
I don’t know, maybe it’s just me but I think the rail would look better if it were a tad longer.

Regards,

Christian

[Richard Wolf]

Hey Frank, I think you maybe in violation of the Stair Builders Institue. I mean, your not union or anything, are you? Just kidding, good job, they look nice and strong.

Richard

[Vaughn McMillan]

Hey Frank, I think you maybe in violation of the Stair Builders Institue. I mean, your not union or anything, are you? Just kidding, good job, they look nice and strong.

Richard
Richard, the SBI has a strong presence here in the US, but the Canadian branch of the Institue only has two members, and they both live in Moosejaw so they don't get out much. As a result, the renegade stairbuilders like Frank are running amok all over the Great White North. ;)

Nice job, Frank, and thanks for the pictorial. I'm sure your daughter and Isla are very pleased to have the old stairs replaced.

- Vaughn

[Larry Cooke]

Thanks for the pics Frank. That's an amazing before and after shot for sure, you did an excellent job on the stairs. Makes me want to go out and buy one of those Festools setups.

Larry

[Frank Pellow]

Looking good Frank. Guess I never seen balusters attached directly to a stair stringer like that. Good idea!!
Thanks Steve.

About the balusters, I have never seen them done that way either. I installed them the way I did in order to provide maximum width for the stairs and maximum strength for the balusters.

[Frank Pellow]

Frank, I dunno. Kids grow up pretty darn fast these days. Isla looks like she is shooting up like a weed. Are you sure you can afford to wait until Autumn to work on that secret hideout? :p
Art, You are right about Isla's rapid growth but the delay cannot be helped becuase I have too many other (outdoor) projects on the go right now. For example, tommorow morning I ma starting to tear down the old deck that I am replacing at Kathleen's house.


Nice job on the stairs.
Thanks Art.


Good call also, on whoever put in that dimpled membrane on the wall.
I decided upon the membrane after some research. The membrane actually extends down under the floor at the base of the wall. They have to dig a trench in order to install it.


Actually, it is far better than a nice job. The balusters, actually notched into the sides. Amazing amount of precision there. What do you mean that isn't Fine Woodworking? It sure is Fine Homebuilding at least...
best,
...art
WOW! That's great praise -I doubt that I deserve it.

[Frank Pellow]

Hi Frank,
thanks for sharing the documentation of this interesting project. Great job – as usual.
Thanks Christian.



Did you buy or turn the balusters?

I bought them. I don't (yet?) own a lathe and, even if I did own one, I doubt that I would have had the time to turn the balusters for this job. They were cheap -about $7 (Cdn) each.



I don’t know, maybe it’s just me but I think the rail would look better if it were a tad longer.
Regards, Christian
I agree that it would look better, but there is very limited room at the foot of the stairs (and throughout the entire basement) and I was attempting to provide as much clearence as possible for folks moving objects up and down the stairs.