What do you do when you want to replace the staircase in your home without spending a lot of money?
Well, you can either rely on a modern modular staircase kit or built it on your own! You heard that right – with a little bit of experience and research, you can build your own staircase, just the way you want it.
Still, it’s recommended that you at least ask for some advice from some reputed staircase manufacturers or such, as they may be able to help you with the hardest parts of building a staircase!
Now, without any further ado, here are some simple steps that you can rely on to build your own staircase!
The Basics
Before you actually start and build your staircase, take the following into account, as they apply to every staircase:
- The rise and the run of every step must be the same.
- The width of each step must be at least 2 feet and 8 inches.
- The maximum step riser height must be of 7 3/8 inches.
- The minimum run length must be 10 inches.
- The steps should be 44 inches or more in width and they must have handrails.
- Stairs should not rise more than 12 feet without having provided a proper landing.
First Step
First of all, you should gather your tools and supplies. For this particular job, you’ll need:
- A circular or hand saw
- Hammer/ drill
- Tape measurer
- Square
- Wood for risers and runs
- Screws/ Nails
Then, before starting work on the staircase, make sure to draw a comprehensive plan that will later help you with the measurements.
Second Step
As you may know, the risers are the most complicated part to build in a staircase.
To measure and cut the risers, you’ll have to take the board that you use for the riser and then measure the angle to the bottom left corner – mark this with a line. Then, measure the rise height from the mentioned line to the edge of the board – once again, mark this with a line.
You’ll then have to measure the run length from the rise point in 90 degrees and mark this measurement with a line again.
Lastly, you have to cut out all the drawn lines and make a duplicate or triplicate – depending on the width of the step.
Third Step
When you’re done with the risers, you’ll have to attach their top to the structure that you want to have access to.
The final rise will have to be placed against the front surface and then screwed in. The second rise has to be placed a step distance apart and screwed in as well. Naturally, any additional risers are to be placed in between, just like the previous one.
Fourth Step
Once your hangers are hung, all you have to do is place the step boards – this is, obviously, the easiest step.
The steps are to be cut to the proper width, then placed and tightly screwed in.
The Bottom Line
It goes without saying that, for a first-timer, building a staircase will seem a lot more complicated. However, these were the basics and the essentials of what you should do when building our own staircase.
As you can see, it’s not that hard. Still, you have to keep in mind that there are certain safety standards that need to be taken into account. For example, open risers should not be built within a home due to obvious safety reasons.
As mentioned above, even if you want to build your own staircase, you should at least ask a professional for advice, tips, and tricks.
