The stairs leading to attic or basement are important. Here's how to fix an old flight or build a new one

Before you get too involved in the jumbo-sized task of building an entirely new set of stairs, check to see if a little repair work will make the existing set serviceable. If they are sturdy but shabby, a couple coats of any good grade deck paint may be a sufficient face lifting. If they creak and groan at every footstep, just tighten the treads.

Most of the noise will occur at the front edge of the treads. Hold the springy wood in place by driving nails down through the tread at an angle into the riser. For a permanent job, use rosin coated nails. They hold like crazy. There's another area that can take this same reinforcing. If the stairs are open so that you can ease your way underneath them, nail the back edge of the risers and treads together. Again use rosin coated nails driven in at an angle. Incidentally, any nails that show can be easily hidden. Just drive them slightly below the surface with a nail-set and putty the hole.

In severe cases with stairs where the boards are actually warped out of position there are two workable repairs. Perhaps you can draw the wood into place using long screws instead of nails. Drill pilot holes so you don't split the tread or riser and countersink the heads so you can hide them with a wood plug or glob of putty. If this doesn't do the trick, you'll have to rip the tread loose

Purlun Cordice

and replace it with a new hunk of lumber in a matching wood. Stair treads are stock lumberyard items and come with the edge already rounded (it's called bullnosed).

Quite often attic or basement stairs appear to be rough, thrown-together affairs but are actually just unfinished. It takes the same amount of work to put up stringers (the saw-toothed supports at the sides of the s,tair opening) for a finished set of steps as it does for a utility stairway. Builders do save money by leaving off the risers and just oailing treads to the supports. In this case all you have to do is complete the job. Measure for the risers (odds are good that stock size lumber will fit), cut the wood to proper length and nail in place.

If the stairs are really shaky and battered the only remedy is to pull the whole works down. But even here the odds are small that the side stringers will have to be replaced. Rip off the treads and risers to expose the stringers at the side.

Creaky stairs can be repaired by nailing front of tread at an angle using rosin coated nails.

For severe cases where wood is warped, drill pilot holes and draw tread down with long screws.

Even a new set of stairs may squeak. Work glue into cracks with a knife to lock the surfaces.

Utility stairs for basement entry use prefab metal stringers. Nail them up through predrilled holes.

With stringers in place, treads (stock lumber cut to length) are simply driven firmly into the slots.

Utility stairs have no provision for risers, but are easy to install and ideal for basement exit.

If they are loose, spike them firmly into the side frame of the stair opening. Then make it over to your friendly neighborhood lumberyard and pick up new stock for both treads and risers, cut them to proper length and fasten in place with long nails into the stringers.

Finishing Touches

If you buy a soft wood such as pine for treads, better plan to paint the stairs with a good quality deck coating. An alternate treatment is carpeting or those rubber tread pads now available in an assortment of colors. Pine won't stand up under heavy foot traffic. Oak treads can be finished with penetrating sealer, varnish or any other heavy duty floor surfacing.

One more bit of advice. There will be discouraging moments after you have tightened up an old set of stairs or built an entirely new run. When you have finished all the work they may still squeek. You can banish the noise, however, with a simple spot treatment. March up and down a bit until you've pinpointed the trouble. Work talcum powder into the crevice between the offending boards. They'll still move slightly, but the powder will act as a lubricant to silence the squeek. Another method solves the problem from a different direction. Using a thin-bladed knife, work glue into the crack between boards. This will lock the wood surfaces together. No movement—no squeek.

Using the tricks and gambits outlined, existing stairs can be salvaged about 90 per cent of the time. However, if you are changing the size or location of the steps or if the old ones are just too weary for rejuvenation, don't resort to extensive patching. Pull down the whole mess and start from scratch.

Building a New Stairway

Let's start with the simplest type, the stairs leading from the basement to the outside. There's a new method for building these utility steps and the whole job from start to finish shouldn't take more than an afternoon's work.

This system involves the use of steel stringers that are nailed with masonry nails (mentioned in an earlier chapter) against the sides of the exterior stair well. These preformed metal jobs are made with slots especially designed to hold 2x10 in. lengths of wood.

If you already have a stair well from the basement to the great outdoors but the stairs are rickety wooden affairs, the job is an easy one. On the other hand, if you don't have any basement exit at all, you'll have to start at the beginning (see Basement Preparations). As you'll discover, installing a new exit involves digging out the earth around the foundation and then breaking through the masonry basement wall to make a door.

Let's say that either you have the old set of stairs completely ripped out or have dug out for a new entrance way ahd framed in the excavation with masonry block or poured concrete. What's next?

Prefab Stairgides (for interior stairs) are nailed to wood side supports cut from stock lumber.	Next step is to cut off top and bottom of side supports so they will fit flush at both levels.

Pick up a pair of the precut stringers (made by Bilco Co.) at your local lumberyard or building supply company. They come in three different sizes to match the dimensions of your basement entrance way.

Nail each stringer to the side wall as shown in the photograph. The only trick is to fit a level into one of the tread slots and jockey the metal strip back and forth until the tread support is level. Then nail the gismo in place using heavy concrete nails driven through the predrilled holes in the metal and into the cement.

Pick up a batch of 2x10 in. lumber. Exactly how much you need depends upon the number of treads in the type of stringers you select plus the width of the stairs. Cut these to the proper length and simply tap them into place with a hammer. Don't make this operation a force fit, but the wood timber should fit snxigly into position. The job is done.

Interior Steps

Once you move inside the house to the interior basement or attic stairs, the procedure gets a little more involved. Once again, however, you can use prefab parts to speed the construction. The exterior basement stairway just described is a utility affair—just treads, no risers. The gadget covered below produces a set of steps you can't tell from a standard carpenter-built unit. It's complete with both treads and risers and, if you use decent lumber and finish the wood presentably, you'll wind up with a handsome stairway.

Cut treads and risers to length and nail in place through the wood side supports to complete job.

Put the flight of stairs in place. Finishing touch is to nail risers to treads as shown in the photo.

The finished stair will be far stronger than one built by standard methods and, even better, the whole job will only take about one fifth the time required for the old tried-and-true construction system.

Called Stairgides, the prefab metal parts are made by the Bilco Co. When you pick up a package at the lumberyard, you'll discover four saw-toothed metal sections inside. Along with these you'll need some lumber. For average size stairs, pick up two pieces of 1x10 white or yellow pine 12 ft. long. If the dealer will let you check through his wood pile, select boards 'that are straight, flat and relatively free of knots. Use white pine, too, for the risers; 12 ft. lengths again. This time get three pieces of 1x8.

Since the treads will get a bit of wear, you might go to a tougher wood such as oak for these parts, although pine or fir will do. You need three 1x12 pieces in 12-ft. lengths.

Rubber tread pads, available in variety of colors, save stain, add to their appearance and safety.

Western Pine* Assn. Heavy post for handrail is in place here. Use a rounded 2x2 or special molding for the handrail.

Since the finished width of the treads is a little narrower (lOVs in. to be exact) you might have the lumberyard rip the material to this size if your workshop doesn't boast a power saw. Some 10 penny and 8 penny finishing nails complete the materials list.

With this method of prefab construction the stairs will have an 8 in. rise and a 9 in. tread. This is standard and results in an incline that your great-Aunt Emma can use without fear of uncertain disaster.

If the distance between floor heights is from 7 ft. 7 in. to 8 ft. 4 in., one set of Stairgides will fit exactly. For lower ceilings from 6 ft. 11 in. to 7 ft. 7 in., cut off the top guide on each side with tin snips or a hack saw before you start.

Assembling the Stairs

Nail the metal guides onto the wood stringers. No guesswork is needed here. Just use the prepunched holes and drive a nail through each one. Using the preformed metal as a guide, saw off the top and bottom of each stringer as shown in the photograph. Then, when the finished stairs go into position, the stringers will line up with the floor at both top and bottom levels.

Cut all treads and risers to exact size. This isn't complicated. Just measure the sides of your stair opening and deduct the thickness of the two stringers. The easiest assembly procedure is to put the stairs together as a unit and then hoist them into position later. Rest the treads and risers on the metal saw-toothed guides fastened to the stringers and nail through the stringers into the treads and risers.

Small metal clips come attached to the Stairgides. Nail these to the underside of the tread. The object of this maneuver is to keep the stringers from spreading apart.

Hoist the complete stair unit into place. Don't be proud: get a friend to help you if necessary. Fasten it in position by nailing the top of the wooden stringers to the stairs opening on either side and toenailing the bottom of the stringers to the floor. That's the job. If it's taken you more than an hour and a half you are either too finicky or too fumble-thumbed.

In case you're cutting an opening through the floor to build an entirely new set nf steps, you'll find yourself involved in one more step—a preparatory one. You'll have to frame in a rough opening. Plan the width of the stairs so they work out to even multiples of the space between floor joists.

If you cut out one floor joist and utilize the space between two of them, you'll wind up with a set of stairs about 30 in. wide. If you cut out two floor joists the steps will be about 40 in. wide. These are just approximate figures. Get out the tape measure before you start cutting lumber. Thirty in. steps are perfectly adequate, the larger version luxurious.

First mark out the rough opening and saw through the floor boards to expose the joists underneath. Then cut through these timbers.

When you remove the floor joists you'll have to bridge across the cut ends of the supporting timbers. Use some more of the same lumber (usually 2x6s). Actually this is a horizontal version of the same procedure you used for framing in window openings in a wall. Nail the bridging timber to the ends of the cut joists. Also spike through the uncut joists on either

Colonel Loon Ornamental iron also makes an attractive handrail. Buy it by the foot and simply bolt together.

side, driving the nails into the ends of the bridging. This procedure sounds much more complex than it really is. It shouldn't add more than two or three hours to the working time.

Handrails

A few words about handrails. For the exterior stairs (the ones leading outside from the basement) don't bother with handrails. Chances are you'll be using this opening for lugging lumber and other objects up and down and will want the space as uncluttered as possible.

As for the interior stairs, keep the handholds as simple as possible. Hardware stores sell inexpensive metal brackets that fasten to the side wall and support a wooden handrail. If you want to spare no expense in this detail, most lumberyards stock special handrail molding. For most people, a hunk of nice straight 2x2 with the edges rounded does handsomely.

If the stairs are open on one or two sides, you'll definitely want a handrail, if only to give a visual sense of security. Use a heavy post (a 4x4 is good) spiked or bolted to the stringer near the bottom step. The handrail runs from the top of this post to the side of the door frame at the top of the steps.

Don't feel bound by the foregoing. As long as they are strong enough to be safe, stair rails can take almost any decorative form. If you'd like a quick solution to the problem, explore the possibilities offered by ornamental iron. The pieces are completely preformed and you just buy them by the foot and assemble with nuts and bolts. As far as style is concerned, the material ranges from starkly plain to wildly ornate. Some varieties, such as "Colonel Logan" come with an adjustable feature so the railings can be adapted to steep or gentle runs of stairs.

If finances are a problem, just put up a plain wood railing. Dress it up by lacing nylon clothesline through screw eyes fastened into the underside of the handrail and the top of the stairs. You can make this a simple zigzag affair or a complex looping. In either case you'll add safety to the rig in addition to a dollop of inexpensive decor.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here