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I've been cutting my own stair stringers wrong for like three years
I was helping my buddy frame his garage loft in Tacoma and he asked why I always cut the bottom riser short. I always just marked the rise and run on a 2x12 and went for it, but he showed me you have to subtract the tread thickness from the first rise. I must have built a dozen sets of steps for sheds and decks that were a half inch off at the landing. It finally clicked when I saw his finished stringer sit perfectly flat. How many of you learned this the hard way, or was I the only one missing that step?
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wadebailey2mo ago
Wait, so you've been giving all your sheds and decks that little surprise step at the bottom for years? That's just a free feature, man, the "oh crap" half inch. At least you weren't cutting the top one wrong, that would be a real trip to the ER. I bet every one of your projects has a ghost story now about the weird guy who built the almost perfect stairs.
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dakota_taylor392mo ago
Oh man, I did the exact same thing on my back deck project! I was so proud of it until my dad pointed out that little hop at the bottom. @wadebailey is right, it's totally a ghost story feature. What finally worked for me was using a little plywood scrap the same thickness as my treads to block up the bottom of the stringer while I marked everything. It felt so obvious once someone showed me, but I must have stared at a dozen YouTube videos that never mentioned it. My deck is solid now, but I still get teased about my "signature stumble step.
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