A stairwell usually represents the area that the stairway
is going to be built in. The picture below provides you with a pretty
good idea, what a stairwell looks like, from the second floor. Each
black arrow is pointing to the edge of the stairwell floor framing.
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Stairwell Framing Advice
You should never frame the stairwell, without verifying all of your
stair measurements. As a stair builder for new homes, I usually provided
all of this information to the job site foreman or supervisor.
Just because the architect or engineer drew something on the building
plans, doesn't mean that it will work.
For example, if you have four stair treads at 10 inches each and a 36
inch wide stair landing at the bottom. (See picture above) you should be
able to add these numbers together and get an exact measurement, to
layout your stairwell.
That sounds easy, but most of the time it isn't, because you need to
allow for stair tread overhangs, upper and lower stair stringer cuts and
finished wall materials.
If you have a 36 inch minimum width required by the building department,
you're going to need to adjust the stairwell accordingly. I can't tell
you how many times framing carpenter's make the mistake of laying out a
36 inch wide set of stairs, only to find out later that it might not
pass final building inspection.
Let me see if I can explain this a little better. If the building
blueprints call out for a 36 inch wide stairway and I build my stairs
accordingly and they put two layers of half-inch drywall on each side of
the wall, my finished stairway measurement is only going to be 35
inches.
If the minimum building code requirement is 36 inches and you only have
35 inches, there could be a problem. All of these adjustments need to be
made, before building your stairwell.
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