Riser - Stair Building Parts

A riser is the area in between the steps. The black arrow in the picture below is pointing to a carpeted stair riser. Risers can be made out of wood, tile, glass and carpet. Each stair riser represents an equally divided space in between the first level and the second one.

Is It Easy To Figure Out The Stair Riser Measurement?

If you can multiply or divide, you can probably figure out what each individual stair riser measurement is. All you need to do is measure the overall distance between levels or floors and divide that number by a specific amount.

For Example: If I was building a stairway without a set of plans or building blueprints, and I had an overall measurement between the first floor in my house and the second floor, of 49 inches. I would need to start dividing numbers into 49 inches, until I came up with a comfortable riser.

A comfortable riser is usually between 7 and 7 3/4". You could always start with one of these numbers and divide them into your overall stair rise or height.

For Example: If I divide seven into 49 inches, I find out that the number seven, divides equally into 49 inches. Therefore I would end up with seven individual, 7 inch stair risers.

If you are using a set of blueprints or building plans, the home designer or architect will usually call out for a certain amount of steps and risers.


Stairs / Stair Glossary

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