Stair Builder's Handbook

This handbook has all of the information you need to design and build the right wood staircase for any job. All you have to know is the floor-to-floor rise from 3 feet to 12 feet. Then select the number of risers. The tables give you the height of each riser, the number and width of treads, the well opening at 6'8" headroom, the angle of incline, the length of the carriage, even the framing square settings for the carriage cuts.

Every stairway in this book uses the most widely-accepted relationship between riser and tread: Riser height plus tread width equals 17-1/2 inches. There's also a chapter on stair fundamentals, which explains the basic principles of stair design and construction. Then you get a graduate course on stair building.

If you know the floor-to-floor rise, this handbook gives you everything else:

• Number and dimension of treads and risers
• Total run
• Correct well hole opening
• Angle of incline
• Quantity of materials and settings for your framing square for over 3,500 code-approved rise and run combinations -- several for every 1/8" interval from a 3 ft. to a 12 ft. floor-to-floor rise.

You'll learn exactly how to put the stairs together, from framing a simple basement stairway to placing a newel post and handrail on a formal staircase. Do you know how wide the winders must be? What's the minimum size for a landing leading to a door at the top of the stairway?

Answers to these and all of your stair building questions are at your fingertips in this handy manual!