Greetings All,
I am wondering if there is a short set of rules for residential stair tread
heights. In a nutshell,
we had a second floor added a couple of years back. The stairs are just
site-built plain old utility grade 2x treads that are held by nails and
construction adhesive. The flooring at both the bottom of said stairs and
top are now finished, so I would like to pretty up the stairway. I know
there are certain dimensions to adhere to pertaining to tread height, depth
and the max variation from tread to tread. Is this something covered by a
national code, or does it vary by municipality? An architect (student) told
me allowable tread height is from 7" to 7 1/2" and no more than 3/32"
variation in tread height over the run of stairs.
I plan on having to remove the 2x treads and hope to use the existing
stringers. I have a thickness planer, so I can pretty much make any
thickness product necessary to conform to code. Thanks to all who are able
to help, Mark

On Dec 8, 7:48*pm, "mark" wrote:
Greetings All,
*I am wondering if there is a short set of rules for residential stair tread
heights. In a nutshell,
we had a second floor added a couple of years back. The stairs are just
site-built plain old utility grade 2x treads that are held by nails and
construction adhesive. The flooring at both the bottom of said stairs and
top are now finished, so I would like to pretty up the stairway. I know
there are certain dimensions to adhere to pertaining to tread height, depth
and the max variation from tread to tread. *Is this something covered by a
national code, or does it vary by municipality? *An architect (student) told
me allowable tread height is from 7" to 7 1/2" and no more than 3/32"
variation in tread height over the run of stairs.
*I plan on having to remove the 2x treads and hope to use the existing
stringers. I have a thickness planer, so I can pretty much make any
thickness product necessary to conform to code. Thanks to all who are able
to help, Mark

The usual rule of thumb is 7-11, meaning 7" riser with 11" tread, but
you can tweak the numbers a little if you had to. It definately should
not be more than 8" riser.What is the riser height now? You could
probably just rip out the 2X and put in premade oak treads.

"Mikepier" wrote in message
...
On Dec 8, 7:48 pm, "mark" wrote:
Greetings All,
I am wondering if there is a short set of rules for residential stair
tread
heights. In a nutshell,
we had a second floor added a couple of years back. The stairs are just
site-built plain old utility grade 2x treads that are held by nails and
construction adhesive. The flooring at both the bottom of said stairs and
top are now finished, so I would like to pretty up the stairway. I know
there are certain dimensions to adhere to pertaining to tread height,
depth
and the max variation from tread to tread. Is this something covered by a
national code, or does it vary by municipality? An architect (student)
told
me allowable tread height is from 7" to 7 1/2" and no more than 3/32"
variation in tread height over the run of stairs.
I plan on having to remove the 2x treads and hope to use the existing
stringers. I have a thickness planer, so I can pretty much make any
thickness product necessary to conform to code. Thanks to all who are able
to help, Mark

The usual rule of thumb is 7-11, meaning 7" riser with 11" tread, but
you can tweak the numbers a little if you had to. It definately should
not be more than 8" riser.What is the riser height now? You could
probably just rip out the 2X and put in premade oak treads.

As is, I have an 8" tread height, that's why I plan on pulling the treads
instead of just topping with something thin. I have a lot of leftover 3/4" T
& G flooring which I'm considering using.

mark wrote:
....
As is, I have an 8" tread height, that's why I plan on pulling the treads
instead of just topping with something thin. I have a lot of leftover 3/4" T
& G flooring which I'm considering using.

Problem is, as DanG points out, simply changing out the tread material
doesn't affect the between-steps riser height except for the top and
bottom two treads so you'll still have 8" rise on all the intermediate
steps and an uneven step at the top and bottom which is even worse than
a uniform 8" overall for tripping hazard.

To fix them correctly will require either recutting the stringer or at
minimum trimming/shimming. But, changing the height will also end up
changing the run given a fixed overall height.

--

mark wrote:
Greetings All,
I am wondering if there is a short set of rules for residential stair
tread heights. In a nutshell,
we had a second floor added a couple of years back. The stairs are
just site-built plain old utility grade 2x treads that are held by
nails and construction adhesive. The flooring at both the bottom of
said stairs and top are now finished, so I would like to pretty up
the stairway. I know there are certain dimensions to adhere to
pertaining to tread height, depth and the max variation from tread to
tread. Is this something covered by a national code, or does it vary
by municipality? An architect (student) told me allowable tread
height is from 7" to 7 1/2" and no more than 3/32" variation in tread
height over the run of stairs. I plan on having to remove the 2x treads
and hope to use the existing
stringers. I have a thickness planer, so I can pretty much make any
thickness product necessary to conform to code. Thanks to all who are
able to help, Mark

The big reason for no variation in tread height is muscular expectation of
where the next step will be. If your body doesn't find the step where it
expects, there's an excellent chance of falling.

Current code is as your student said. I think the current maximum
is 7 3/8 rise. If you have an existing stair it is a bit
different. I'm really lost by some of your comments. If you keep
the existing stringers how can you change the riser heights? IF
the existing risers are 8", they will still be 8" if you do the
same thing to each one. Riser height is a function of floor to
floor measurement divided by number of risers. The thickness or
thinness of tread boards will not change any of the issues except
the bottom riser.

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"mark" wrote in message
...
Greetings All,
I am wondering if there is a short set of rules for residential
stair tread heights. In a nutshell,
we had a second floor added a couple of years back. The stairs
are just site-built plain old utility grade 2x treads that are
held by nails and construction adhesive. The flooring at both
the bottom of said stairs and top are now finished, so I would
like to pretty up the stairway. I know there are certain
dimensions to adhere to pertaining to tread height, depth and
the max variation from tread to tread. Is this something
covered by a national code, or does it vary by municipality? An
architect (student) told me allowable tread height is from 7" to
7 1/2" and no more than 3/32" variation in tread height over the
run of stairs.
I plan on having to remove the 2x treads and hope to use the
existing stringers. I have a thickness planer, so I can pretty
much make any thickness product necessary to conform to code.
Thanks to all who are able to help, Mark