Staircases

• Detail: A Hidden Newel Post (Subscriber content)

  The architect specced a switchback stair rail with no newel post at the landing — a visually pleasing but structurally weak design. Here’s how the builder provided support without changing the designer’s intent.

   

• Q&A: Engineered Lumber Stringers

  Q: Can I use laminated veneer lumber for stair carriage material? Since it doesn’t shrink, it seems it would solve many of the problems associated with the shrinkage of sawn lumber stringers.

   

• Trouble-Free Stairs (Subscriber content)

  In stair-building, most finish headaches start out as framing foul-ups. A veteran builder shows how to accurately figure rise and run, locate landings, and install squeakless treads and risers.

   

• Letters

  Keeping termites out of foam-covered foundations, roof vent study attacked

   

• By Design: Multiplying Space with Stairs (Subscriber content)

  Space-saving stair layout

   

• Eight-Penny News

  Building on fill can be fatal, BOCA adopts new stair rules, verdict in Masonite suit

   

• New England Update

   

• Building With Style: Designing for Children (Subscriber content)

  Designing for children

   

• Foolproof Handrail Layout (Subscriber content)

  A long-time stair builder shows how to use a full-scale drawing to lay out rails, newels, and balusters quickly and accurately every time.

   

• Sturdy Site-Built Stairs (Subscriber content)

  Sawn-carriages are strong and easy to build, but housed-stringers hide shrinkage better. A finish carpenter explains a method for building stairs that takes advantage of both approaches.