Tips for Building Stairs without the Fuss

Alright, so I just had my stairs built by a cousin of mine who is supposed to be ‘a whiz’ with carpentry. Unfortunately, there were some hang ups. I didn’t want to make him feel bad or embarrass him, but honestly, I had to take the stairs down and learn the art of building stairs myself.

With what I paid him, it was no longer in my budget to hire a professional. So here’s my advice based on a hard lesson.

- Before you start, check and make sure that building stairs doesn’t violate any local codes or requirements. This was something my cousin didn’t do. Fortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any problems here.

It was probably the only area, but that could be because the code inspector didn’t see the stairs. If he’d seen them for himself, there might have been a whole new section written!

- I am no expert, but I believe in quality materials. My cousin, on the other hand, worked with the cheapest stuff he could get. His reasoning was that since we’d be covering the stairs with carpet, it would be unnecessary to get ‘fancy.’

But cheap wood, especially if it has knots and other imperfections, has a greater likelihood of cracking sooner than other kinds of wood. Since I have children, I can’t gamble on something like that.

- Draw up a plan or blue print. That’s one of the most useful tips I learned about building stairs, because it really helps you get everything laid out and organized. This way you’ll get to see how the end result should look and how everything adds up.

So if you plan on making your own stairs, I hope these tips help you avoid any pitfalls. No glitches means no spending more money than you have to. Oh, another word of advice: Don’t hire relatives to build stairs for you!

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- Jessica N