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Building stairs in
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More on building stairs in timber, closed strings and
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Stairs around the corners | Newel Posts | Fixing the bottom
newel post | The
Fittings
joint at the landing. |
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Building stairs - Simple stairs with closed strings,

half space landing and open risers.

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Deck
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In the above sketch I have shown the riser open. It is

just to show the basics of building stairs with landing
and newel posts. For the most part in this type of
stair well the wall string is a full one and very often
the outside one is cut and mitred as in the photo
below.
A couple of points from previous pages, but well
worth repeating.
1. In any on stairway (from one floor to
another) all the rises are the same
2. As far as the height goes and getting your

individual step rise, the steps and the landings

Steel in
are all the same.
home
3. Just treat the landings as treads, just a bit
building
longer and a bit thicker.
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Building stairs - A solid turned timber newel post

with the handrail terminating in a handrail scroll.
The outside string to the newel is known as a cut
and mitred string.
Photo thanks to "Gracey" and Morguefile.

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In the sketch above you can see that there are a few
different types of newel posts but to a certain extent
they perform the same functions.
1. Newel posts are a strong way to join the
strings at a change of direction.
2. When securely fixed to the strings they
provide a strong support for the handrails.
3. When carried down to the floor they can
provide support for the landing,stair itself and
for a wall or panelling under the stairs.
There are also many examples of stairs that manage
quite well without newel posts, using the balusters
alone and quite possibly a wreathed string. There is
an excellent example of one of these on my intro to
stairs page.
Newel posts are a tried and tested way of building
stairs in the traditional way. Notice that in the turned
example in the photo, that where the joint is made to
the string then the post is left square to make the
joint construction easier. This is fairly typical as it is
far easier to fit to a square section than a round one.
Back to top

Housed or routered stringers

Building stairs - The bottom wall string. Routered

or housed

In this type of internal stair the strings are router out

and the only way to do it is with either some very
sophisticated machinery or a very simple home mad
router jig.
Here's a section on one of my router pages for
making a very simple but efficient router jig.
Here is an expanded version for the stair jig alone.
Back to top

Fixing the bottom newel post

Building stairs - The bottom joint between the new post and the outside
string.

As you can see from the sketch, the string is fixed to

the post with a stub (not going all the way through)
mortise and tenon joint. The joint is glued and
dowelled. The dowels are on the inside where they
will not be seen.

The stair jig is used once again to router out the

newel post as shown for the treads and risers.
The treads and risers in their turn are glued and
wedged, so you can see that this is a very strong
method of fixing the newels posts.
Back to top

The joint at the landing.

Building stairs - The string to newel joint from the inside

These two sketches are just about self explanatory.

Once again I could make the comment that stairs
built like this in the traditional way are tremendously
strong.
I have seen quite a few modern stairs that use far
weaker joint systems. If I was intending to buy one

of these kit type stairs I would be asking about how it

is constructed, before parting with any cash.

Building stairs - The newel to stringer joint from the outside

Go To Top :Building stairs

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Please Note! The information on this site is offered as a guide only! When we are talking about
areas where building regulations or safety regulations could exist,the information here could be
wrong for your area. It could be out of date! Regulations breed faster than rabbits!
You must check your own local conditions.
Copyright Bill Bradley 2007-2012. All rights reserved.