Weekend homework

Today I decided to build a set of stairs that will lead down the hatch to the basement at the rear of the house. I've built stairs before with others having done the calculations, but never built stairs from start to finish myself. I though tackling a low profile set would be a good place to start.

I spent a little time this afternoon doing the calculations for the rise and run and then checked the numbers on a story stick at the location in the stairwell and it came within an 1/8", so I was pretty pleased. Math can be very cool.

I then laid out the cuts with a framing square with square gauges attached at points of rise and run I'd calculated. The framing square is then laid against the edge of the 2x12 and each step is marked.

Having cut the first stringer I tried it out and, to my satisfaction, it fit. I cut the other two and called it quits for the afternoon, since cutting the stringers was the aspect I was most concerned about. I'll finish the assembly tomorrow morning and we'll have our first set of stairs in the house.