Unique Stringer Construction

[Kenny Rigler]

Hey Guys-

Any of you seen a stringer constructed like this? It looks like they just sawed/chiseled out the supports for the treads but for the most part, the treads were only resting on about a 1/2" ledge. Seems like a lot more work than just cutting out the stringer like normal and only providing a 1/3 of the support.

Kenny

[Bob Elliott]

Looks unsafe.
There are a few issue there.

[Jeffery L. Haynes]

Actually yes, it was common practice and acceptable at one time..... the treads and risers were often thicker as compared to the nominal size of lumber today.

If you ever look at prebuilt staircases you will see the similar thing.
They glue, screw and stable things to death in order to maintain structural integrity.

This one looks like they tried to imitate those designs........poorly I may say.
Looks like some some sort of number 2 or 3 pine...........

How is the home by the way and what is the width of the stairs.....looks like 36 inches.

[Kenny Rigler]

Originally Posted by jhaynes

How is the home by the way and what is the width of the stairs.....looks like 36 inches.

Hey Jeff-

I didn't measure the stair width but I agree, probably 36". The home was a late 70s brick home. Looked very nice from the street but as I got into it found several shortcuts.

[George E. Russell]

I once worked for a modular home company that did similar, but not the same, staircases. We had this awesome router table and when programed with the rise and run would route out the stringers, to about 3/4", and the tightness of the tread/riser fit along with the glue and screw made them very sturdy. I wish I had taken pictures of some of the cool machines we had then.

[Jeffery L. Haynes]

when done correctly they are very strong however when done by DIY's they usually fall apart.

http://www.espstairs.net/boxstair.htm

[Bruce M. Graham]

Norm has done this type of stringer on one of his shows, not as ugly looking as that though

[George E. Russell]

Yup there is that bad boy router table....what a cool piece of equipment!!