A stringer is the main structural support for most of the
stairways, built today. The picture below provides you with an excellent
example of what a wood stair stringer looks like. Stair stringers come
in a variety of different shapes and sizes and can be built out of
different building materials.
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You're probably wondering why the stair stringer in
the picture above has been cut and separated at the top. This particular
stringer was used as an example in a book that I was writing called,"
Simplified Stair Building."
If you put the two pieces together you would have a longer stair
stringer that could be used to attach to a floor or even a cantilevered
floor. I was trying to provide my readers with an example of two
different types of stair stringers and how they can be used.
If you remove the upper section and only use the bottom stringer, this
particular stringer would attach to a ledger that was nailed onto a
floor or landing. Both of these stair stringers are designed to build a
set of stairs with only three steps.
Selecting The Right Materials
The most important point I would like to make about selecting the right
lumber for your stair stringers, would be to make sure that you select a
piece wide enough, to provide you with enough structural support, for
the stairs.
For example, if I cut this stair stringer out of a 2 x 8, instead of the
2 x 12, I would only have about an inch and a half of wood left over for
my structural support. By cutting my notches out for my stair treads and
risers, I wouldn't have much wood left over on the bottom of the stair
stringer.
2 x 12's and 2 x 14's work great for conventional stringers like the one
in the picture above. I've seen people use 2 x 10's, but that's pushing
it. For an extra 2 inches of lumber, it won't be the end of the world,
to spend a few more dollars and rest assured that view have built a
better stairway.
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