Comments on: Solving Porch Problems http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2010/04/23/solving-porch-problems/ A new eMagazine BY carpenters, FOR carpenters. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:04:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Gary Katz /2010/04/23/solving-porch-problems/#comment-6032 Gary Katz Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:14:39 +0000 http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/?p=3535#comment-6032 Rick, Good eyes. A couple of people, Carl Hagstrom in particular, suggested a similar 'brace,' which is especially important if the stair and bottom newel posts aren't secured to concrete or the ground. Gary Rick,
Good eyes. A couple of people, Carl Hagstrom in particular, suggested a similar ‘brace,’ which is especially important if the stair and bottom newel posts aren’t secured to concrete or the ground.
Gary

]]> By: Rick Carpenter /2010/04/23/solving-porch-problems/#comment-6013 Rick Carpenter Mon, 02 Aug 2010 04:08:39 +0000 http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/?p=3535#comment-6013 I like the stair-hanging solution. May I suggest one additional support? You're going to have a fulcrum of some (minor!) sort for back and forth movement of the stair handrails, whether that fulcrum is the stringer-hanger or the rim joist if for some odd reason the stairs are not secured into the ground via a cemented newel or attached to the pad (not good, I know, but sometimes this just doesn't happen). To act against either case, run a 2x at an angle from the middle floor joist to the hanger. You're more than likely to have enough scrap 2x material and a left over metal joist hanger to do this for free. Either that or run the top newels into the ground and cement them. I like the stair-hanging solution. May I suggest one additional support? You’re going to have a fulcrum of some (minor!) sort for back and forth movement of the stair handrails, whether that fulcrum is the stringer-hanger or the rim joist if for some odd reason the stairs are not secured into the ground via a cemented newel or attached to the pad (not good, I know, but sometimes this just doesn’t happen). To act against either case, run a 2x at an angle from the middle floor joist to the hanger. You’re more than likely to have enough scrap 2x material and a left over metal joist hanger to do this for free. Either that or run the top newels into the ground and cement them.

]]> By: Gary Katz /2010/04/23/solving-porch-problems/#comment-4377 Gary Katz Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:35:56 +0000 http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/?p=3535#comment-4377 Dan, I'm really glad the article helped. That's exactly the purpose of publishing stuff like that--so folks who don't do it every day don't have to re-learn from scratch twice a year. A lot of carpenters have appreciated that newel post hanger technique, too. Gary Dan,
I’m really glad the article helped. That’s exactly the purpose of publishing stuff like that–so folks who don’t do it every day don’t have to re-learn from scratch twice a year. A lot of carpenters have appreciated that newel post hanger technique, too.
Gary

]]> By: Dan Broadbelt /2010/04/23/solving-porch-problems/#comment-4347 Dan Broadbelt Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:40:08 +0000 http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/?p=3535#comment-4347 Thanks for posting this article Gary. I watched you and Mike Sloggatt perform this storypole method at one of your seminars in Phila. and thought it was a pretty good system; I just didn't know if I would remember all the steps the next time I had to build steps. I build a set of steps anywhere from 0 to 3 times a year, and every time I do I have to go back and re-learn stair building. This time I needed to build a set of stairs for the non-ramp side of a wheelchair ramp, so I read this article and armed only with this knowledge I went to the site and made my story pole for the stairs. Back at the shop with my netbook at hand, I laid out my info on a scrap of 1/4" ply then used that template to cut my stringers with the SCMS and my Festool (for the cuts the mitersaw couldn't cut). The cuts were dead-on and it was as easy as you made it look at the show. Thanks for sharing. Dan Thanks for posting this article Gary.

I watched you and Mike Sloggatt perform this storypole method at one of your seminars in Phila. and thought it was a pretty good system; I just didn’t know if I would remember all the steps the next time I had to build steps.

I build a set of steps anywhere from 0 to 3 times a year, and every time I do I have to go back and re-learn stair building.

This time I needed to build a set of stairs for the non-ramp side of a wheelchair ramp, so I read this article and armed only with this knowledge I went to the site and made my story pole for the stairs. Back at the shop with my netbook at hand, I laid out my info on a scrap of 1/4″ ply then used that template to cut my stringers with the SCMS and my Festool (for the cuts the mitersaw couldn’t cut). The cuts were dead-on and it was as easy as you made it look at the show.

Thanks for sharing.

Dan

]]> By: Stephen Benoit /2010/04/23/solving-porch-problems/#comment-4250 Stephen Benoit Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:35:50 +0000 http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/?p=3535#comment-4250 [file]http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Stringer section 1-2.pdf[/file] Just a few of our standards. Always order 2 x 12 stringers. We layout and cut stringers up behind rimboard and attach along side of joist or blocking if stringers run perpendicular to joist. We prefer to use timber lags. Don't forget to layout and cut the rimboard out of the top tread. Know your stringer layout prior to laying out floor joists. Put all stringers one on top of the other. Tack bottom of stringers flush. Layout stringers. Square blade with saw table. Cut top stringer. This will mark the next one down. Do not overcut tread and riser intersect. Remove and finish with handsaw or sawzall. Sharpen both ends of your carpenters pencil. Don't forget to remove the thickness of the bottom tread from the bottom riser. SAFETY FIRST STEVE [file]http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Stringer section 1-2.pdf[/file]
Just a few of our standards. Always order 2 x 12 stringers. We layout and cut stringers up behind rimboard and attach along side of joist or blocking if stringers run perpendicular to joist. We prefer to use timber lags. Don’t forget to layout and cut the rimboard out of the top tread. Know your stringer layout prior to laying out floor joists.
Put all stringers one on top of the other. Tack bottom of stringers flush. Layout stringers. Square blade with saw table. Cut top stringer. This will mark the next one down. Do not overcut tread and riser intersect. Remove and finish with handsaw or sawzall.
Sharpen both ends of your carpenters pencil.
Don’t forget to remove the thickness of the bottom tread from the bottom riser.

SAFETY FIRST
STEVE

]]> By: KeithM /2010/04/23/solving-porch-problems/#comment-2499 KeithM Sat, 29 May 2010 18:32:12 +0000 http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/?p=3535#comment-2499 Gary, Sorry, I apologize, I did not mean to be insulting, I was just feeding off Bryan's comment. I missed the section about how the calculator holds more precision than it displays. This was clear in the other Keith M's video, where I picked up on it. I learned trig, chemistry and physics on a slide rule, then moved on to computers. Significant digits and cumulative errors were always considerations there. Gary,
Sorry, I apologize, I did not mean to be insulting, I was just feeding off Bryan’s comment.

I missed the section about how the calculator holds more precision than it displays. This was clear in the other Keith M’s video, where I picked up on it.

I learned trig, chemistry and physics on a slide rule, then moved on to computers. Significant digits and cumulative errors were always considerations there.

]]> By: John Chinn, owner of III Nails Carpentry, Richmond VA /2010/04/23/solving-porch-problems/#comment-1350 John Chinn, owner of III Nails Carpentry, Richmond VA Sat, 01 May 2010 06:29:53 +0000 http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/?p=3535#comment-1350 Shucks, guess I better stop using a sharpie to draw my layouts! Jus' funnin, great tips everyone; bottom line is: stay within code, be as perfectionist as you want to, at the end of the day be happy with your craft (and what you get paid to do it!). Shucks, guess I better stop using a sharpie to draw my layouts! Jus’ funnin, great tips everyone; bottom line is: stay within code, be as perfectionist as you want to, at the end of the day be happy with your craft (and what you get paid to do it!).

]]> By: Gary Katz /2010/04/23/solving-porch-problems/#comment-1258 Gary Katz Tue, 27 Apr 2010 01:25:49 +0000 http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/?p=3535#comment-1258 A knife blade does leave a sharp clean line, and I use them occasionally on finish work, when my 2 5/10 pencils aren't leaving good marks. But actually, I almost wish we hadn't mentioned the thickness of the pencil line in that story! It's a red herring! :) The pencil doesn't contribute to cumulative error unless you're moving your tape measure from mark to mark. At the most, the error you'll get from a thick pencil to a thin pencil would only be 1/16 in. or a little more, and that error won't "accumulate" if you layout the edge of the stringer with 'horizontal' tick marks for each tread/riser intersection using a calculator and not a gauge block. A knife blade does leave a sharp clean line, and I use them occasionally on finish work, when my 2 5/10 pencils aren’t leaving good marks. But actually, I almost wish we hadn’t mentioned the thickness of the pencil line in that story! It’s a red herring! :) The pencil doesn’t contribute to cumulative error unless you’re moving your tape measure from mark to mark. At the most, the error you’ll get from a thick pencil to a thin pencil would only be 1/16 in. or a little more, and that error won’t “accumulate” if you layout the edge of the stringer with ‘horizontal’ tick marks for each tread/riser intersection using a calculator and not a gauge block.

]]> By: Gary Katz /2010/04/23/solving-porch-problems/#comment-1256 Gary Katz Tue, 27 Apr 2010 01:21:50 +0000 http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/?p=3535#comment-1256 Larry, That wasn't my idea. Tom Brewer came up with that solution. He's one of those quiet brilliant guys that you have to really listen to on the rare occasions when he says something. Mike Sloggatt came up with the idea of carrying the stringers to the back of the newels so they'd bolt through the sides rather than mount to the front of the ledger (or whatever you want to call that thing! I don't think it's really a joist?). The whole ledger idea was Greg DiBernardos. Like I said in the story, a lot of carpenters contributed to the design. I don't know what I was thinking! I should have called you, too!!! Larry,
That wasn’t my idea. Tom Brewer came up with that solution. He’s one of those quiet brilliant guys that you have to really listen to on the rare occasions when he says something. Mike Sloggatt came up with the idea of carrying the stringers to the back of the newels so they’d bolt through the sides rather than mount to the front of the ledger (or whatever you want to call that thing! I don’t think it’s really a joist?). The whole ledger idea was Greg DiBernardos. Like I said in the story, a lot of carpenters contributed to the design. I don’t know what I was thinking! I should have called you, too!!!

]]> By: larry haun /2010/04/23/solving-porch-problems/#comment-1249 larry haun Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:14:34 +0000 http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/?p=3535#comment-1249 Gary, Thanks for the reply. I have never thought of tying a rim joist into the newel posts....So good Idea. I have hung a joist below the rim joist to catch the stringers, but I always braced it back to something other than the newel posts. Larry Gary,
Thanks for the reply.
I have never thought of tying a rim joist into the newel posts….So good Idea. I have hung a joist below the rim joist to catch the stringers, but I always braced it back to something other than the newel posts.
Larry

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