Finished framing the support of the new stairs with the help of Grillo and Angela.   Paid close attention to proper riser height at the top and bottom steps to account for floor thickness.  And perhaps most important was to ensure there was no sagging in the middle of the steps (from their weight).  This was done running a string along the treads being secured at the upper and bottom most boards via staples.  The string was pulled taught and each tread should just be touching the string.

I sealed the steps against the brick via spray foam for two reasons: (1) it provides some shear resistance and against loading and interconnects all the framing members; (2) it eliminates debris falling through cracks in the finished trim.

The 2×6’s and 2×4’s were spaced 16″ on center.  The open stringers were supported on the inside using construction adhesive and wood screws. while at the base screws were toe-ed into the sub-flooring and joists.   The brick side stringer framing members where screwed into the wall using 2-3/4″ tap cons and also supported on a ledger.   The brick side stringer was also screwed into the brick using 3″ Lag screws.

The bottom step was screwed to the sub-floor from the underside where I used 2-1/2″ screws that came through the sub-flooring into the riser.  The upper riser was mounted to the joists using 5 3-1/4″ wood screws after the gap was shimmed.

Now we can get up and downstairs without a ladder.  Leo likes this!

Well supported

Top riser detail 1 – shimmed, glued and screwed

Top detail – Routed for nosing with spray foam to keep movement to minimum

Open Stringer Framing Detail – wood glued and screwed together

Skirting Framing Detail + Ledger – lagged into brick with tapcons

Spray Foam sealing stud to kitchen

Framing took forever… days and days of sweat

No sagging top to bottom!

Original Demo 1