Building a set of stairs...

[Chuck Wintle]

I wish to build a set of stairs from a deck 50 inches high to the ground. the run is about 54 inches. I have no experience building stairs and, after comsulting a book on construction have figured out how to cut the stringer from a 2 x 10. my problem now is attaching them to the deck framing. what is the best/proper way to do that? in order to preserve the 7 in rise will i need to attach the stringer low on the deck or is there a way to bring the fuul height of the stringer to the deck frame?:confused:

[Russ Massery]

I've cut a kerf across the edge of the stringer. Then inserted a joist hanger in to the slot. then nail it up.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Sounds like you got the stringer laid out to have consistent steps and risers. That is the first challange.

Attaching them to the top and bottom can be done ins a variety os ways.

Think about how the load on the carriages will push them out and down. Then build to resist and absorb those loads.
I hung my 4 carriage 5' wide deck stairs by dadoing a 6*6 and bolting it to the 2*6 side of my deck. Each carriage is locked into a deep dado. At the bottom I set it so as to be pushing against a stepped cement pad.

There are other ways. You can 'key" the bottom using a 2*4 placed inset into a poured concrete landing and keyed into the carriages respectively.
Others have used angle iron to bolt to an existing concrete pad and the carriages.
The idea is to set the bottom as securely as possible as the bottom is the end that will give you the most trouble.

At the top:
A lot of folks simply let the carriages rest against the headerboard at the top and toe nail it. I don't like that as it "feels" insufficient but hey - - lots of them are done that way.

[Al Killian]

I have placed the stringers on a 2x2 and nail the stringers from under the porch.Instead of toe nailing nail thru the porch straight into the stringers.

[Jim Andrew]

That high a deck should have at least one handrail on the steps. What I like to do is put a 4x4 post on each side of the steps and just screw my
stair jacks to those. Then you need a 4x4 at the bottom and you can screw the bottom end of the stair jack to that. Usually on the side with
no stair rail, I bury a scrap of 4x4 and screw the other side to that. Unless I put a handrail on both sides. Personally on outdoor stairs, I like to lay out the jacks, but don't cut them out like you would stairs indoors.
I just lay them out, then screw 2x2s on the line where you would normally mount the stair tread, then screw the treads between the jacks onto that 2x2. Jim

[Ben Grunow]

If there is not enough wood to get some long galvanized screws in (from the back under the deck into the end grain of the stringer or toe nail, either way) you can buy perforated galvanized straps (used as hurricane tied downs in framing) and cut a piece about 16" long. Nail it to the end grain on the top of the stringer with 8" sticking up (that's 7" for the rise of the step and 1" to account for the decking thickness). Build the stairs and nail the strap to the edge beam of the deck with joist hanger nails. This method requires that the edge of the deck framing be covered with fascia board to hide the strap but it is strong and easy.

THat said I still like to connect the stringers with some sort of wood like plywood gussets or 2x nailed along side the stringers and the deck joists. Something. Good luck.

[Dave Falkenstein]

First - use 2X12 rather than 2X10 for the stringers. More wood and therefore stronger stringers.

You can lay out the stringer to have the top step at the level of the deck, so you walk off the deck onto the top step, and then step down to the second step. That way, the top of the stringer is flat against the deck fascia or joist. For a picture of this method see this link and look at the drawing on the first page:

http://www.woodcraft.com/articles.aspx?articleid=311

The disadvantage of this method is that it adds one tread to the stair, making the run longer by that one tread. Another issue - making the railing requires a little more work, since the top of the railing should be horizontal for the top step.

Finally I'm having trouble seeing how you get a 50" rise in a 54" run. Steps should have about a 7" rise, preferably less, in my experience. With a 50" rise you need 7 steps, plus one more if you use the method I mentioned above. For 8 steps you need 80" of run, assuming 10" treads. I'd use two 2X6's for deck stair tread, on a 10" tread on the stringers and a 1" overhang.