How Many Stair Stringers Do I Use?
By Greg Vanden Berge
I get asked this question a lot, how many
stair stringers do I use when building a set of stairs?
It's common in the construction industry for
roof rafters and floor joist to be spaced 16 inches on center
and we can also use this basic framing method, to figure out how
many stair stringers we actually need.
If you have a stairway that's 48 inches wide and you divide 16 inches into 48 inches, you will find that you need four stair stringers.
If you're stairway is between 30 and 36 inches you will need three stair stringers.
How many stair stringers you actually need
will also be determined by the
thickness of your stair treads. If you're going to use a 4 x 12
stair tread, there's a good chance you would only need one stair
stringer at each end of the stairs, if you're stairway was less than 40
inches wide.
If you're going to use 2 x 12 stair treads, you could space your stair
stringers 24 inches on center. The thickness of the stair tread will
affect the amount of stair stringers you actually need, but you can't go
wrong with the original 16 inch on center measurement, unless you're
going to be using stair treads that are less than 3/4 of an inch in
thickness.
This article is only meant to provide someone with a general idea but cannot be used in every situation effectively.
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