Staircase info

[Stephen Smith Sr]

I joined Sawmill back in Aug (what a great forum), but this is my first post. I'm going to be building a staircase in my son's new house and had a question to throw out to the group.

The framing contractor already installed the stringers for the staircase, the sheetrock is complete, and there was never a conversation about what type of flooring was going to be installed. Hence my dilema. The starter stair will end up with a 1" shorter rise than the rest of the stairs. The building inspector said that the 3/8" variation from stair to stair is not applicable for the starter stair. Has anyone ever heard of that? It just didn't sound right to me.

Thanks in advance for some insight.

[Richard Wolf]

The code that states "no two stair riser may vary more than 3/8" does not always apply to the starting step. So you may get away with the starting step being out of sink with the rest. While it is not as dangerous as a step out of sink in the middle or top of the stair, it is still very uncomfortable.
You should recut your stringers or at least add shims to each step cut to bring them equal rise.

Richard

[Mark Grotenhuis]

Your contractor definitely should have considered the type of flooring before framing the stairs. Technically you will not pass code with a 1" difference on the starter step. If you have a really nice inspector... or he just doesn't notice you might get away with it. Being a framer myself I would make him redo the stairs. Its harsh, but you paid him to be professional, and he clearly wasn't. 3/8" is the max allowable variance, but personally I try to make it more like 1/16th max.

[Chuck Thoits]

It is the code and the BI all ready knows to check them when he comes back to do the CO. My bet is that is the first thing he does when he comes back is to run right over to the stairs and check the first step.
As Mark said make the GC redo the stairs. Its his job to build to code. And no it is not harsh to make him do his job right. I am sure you sons contract states that his house will be built to code.

[William OConnell]

So what is the floor thats going to make a 1" difference? Mud job tiles?

[Matt Ocel]

IRC - R314.2 Treads and Risers

"The greatest riser height within any FLIGHT of stairs shall not exceed the smallest by more than 3/8 inch (9.5 mm)."

No Dought. Have the contractor bring the stairway up to code.

Or

As the stairway guru (Richard) said shim the stairs.

Which, by the way happens in my area quite a bit, as temporary treads are put on at framing and permenant treads at trim. Most of the time, the framing and triming is done by the same company, so one way or the other it is that company that is responsible for code compliance.

and

Every once and a while, a homeowner may change there mind on flooring type, which efffects riser heights.

[James Walters]

Is there any whey to turn the first step into a fancy landing???
Say maybe a radius landing???

[John Keeton]

If I understand the OP, the finish floor on the first floor caused the first rise to be short by 1". If he shims the remaining steps, he will just chase the 1" to the last step unless the floor covering on top will make it work. He could fade out the difference with variable shims over the entire run - big PITA!

No doubt in my mind, the framer would be recutting the carriages. No mention of a general contractor. Is your son the general? Did he hold any money on the framer - probably not at this point since all rough-ins are done, insulation and sheetrock up.

Even if I had to pull the carriages and redo them myself, I would want this fixed. Everytime you come down those steps and get your teeth jarred by a short bottom step, you will regret not fixing it.

[Matt Ocel]

If I understand the OP, the finish floor on the first floor caused the first rise to be short by 1". If he shims the remaining steps, he will just chase the 1" to the last step unless the floor covering on top will make it work. He could fade out the difference with variable shims over the entire run - big PITA!

No doubt in my mind, the framer would be recutting the carriages. No mention of a general contractor. Is your son the general? Did he hold any money on the framer - probably not at this point since all rough-ins are done, insulation and sheetrock up.

Even if I had to pull the carriages and redo them myself, I would want this fixed. Everytime you come down those steps and get your teeth jarred by a short bottom step, you will regret not fixing it.


Yes - you fade out the difference with variable shims over the entire run. Not as big of PITA as you would think, and if the trimmer is taking out temps and installing permanent treads, it is relitively easy.

[Stephen Smith Sr]

Thanks for all of your replys.

Yes, my son is the General Contractor. And no, I would not say that the framer is the one responsible. My son actually changed his mind about the type of flooring we was going to be putting down (although there was never an original conversation about floor type). I may have misled all of you by implying the framer was at fault.

Also, I pulled out the orignial stringers and cut them to accomodate a tile floor that my son was going to put down. Then re-installed them. Since then the sheetrock has been completed, and my son is now going to install a subfloor and hardwood floors, which now changes the rise again.

That being said, I am going to try to add the necessary shims to make each rise within code.

I really appreciate all of your thoughts on the matter and I'll keep you posted as I progress.

Steve

[William OConnell]

Thanks for all of your replys.

Yes, my son is the General Contractor. And no, I would not say that the framer is the one responsible. My son actually changed his mind about the type of flooring we was going to be putting down (although there was never an original conversation about floor type). I may have misled all of you by implying the framer was at fault.

Also, I pulled out the orignial stringers and cut them to accomodate a tile floor that my son was going to put down. Then re-installed them. Since then the sheetrock has been completed, and my son is now going to install a subfloor and hardwood floors, which now changes the rise again.

That being said, I am going to try to add the necessary shims to make each rise within code.

I really appreciate all of your thoughts on the matter and I'll keep you posted as I progress.

Steve
Thanks Steve
I knew it had something to do with the flooring change. I had a framing crew for allot of years and did alot of stair installs. People were constanty changing from tile to hardwood and back. So don't feel bad its just normal decision making. It would be nice to see pics when done. Maybe you can just cut the sheetrock a little and use a quarter roound to cover the gap. This way you only have to shim the bottom tread?

[Stephen Smith Sr]

IRC - R314.2 Treads and Risers

"The greatest riser height within any FLIGHT of stairs shall not exceed the smallest by more than 3/8 inch (9.5 mm)."

In my situation there is a flight of 7 stairs, then a landing, then the top flight of 8 stairs. Is the code stating that there can only be 3/8" difference from top to bottom (both flights), or does it mean per each flight?

If you can't tell, this is my first staircase project.

[Matt Ocel]

Steve -

That would be classified as 2 flights.