Simplifying Your Stair Rise And Run Calculations

By Greg Vanden Berge


I think I can help you, especially if you're interested in simplifying your stair rise and run calculations. However, there's no reason to read the rest of this article, if you haven't made your mind up, to build your own stairway.

Okay, you've made up your mind, you're going to build a set of stairs. Your spouse, a few of your friends and family members, still can't believe that you're going to try and build your own stairway. But it's finally time, all you need is the information and you're ready to put the wheels in motion

The stair rise is the overall measurement between the floors you're going to be working with. For example, if you have a total stair rise of 49 inches, you can use that number, along with some simple construction math to figure out the length of your individual stair case risers.

To keep things simple, I'm going to divide seven into 49 inches, this will give me a 7 inch stair riser. Seven stair risers at 7 inches each, equals 49 inches. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

You will use the same method to figure out your stair run. If you have seven risers, you will have six stair treads. If we use the 17 1/2 inch stair rule, to figure out our stair tread width, we will end up with a 10 inch stair step.

If we multiply 10 inches (each individual stair tread) times six steps, our total stair run will be 60 inches. Figuring the total stair rise and total stair run isn't that difficult. The difficult part for building stairs, is laying out the stair stringers correctly and understanding the fundamentals.

For more information about building staircases, you should check out some of our stair building books. These books were created to simplify the stair construction process.


Stairs  Stair Articles