Hi Larry, First I hope that the joists under the porch floor are closer than 4 foot centres. If 2 by 8 they should be closer to 12 inch centres, otherwise the floor will be way too light, even on 16 inch centres it will bounce on 2 by 8 joists.
Except for maybe marine grade plywood or really good quality pressure treated, plywood is not a good choice of material for outdoor use and particularly under carpet, it will go soft, the glue between the laminations will separate and very soon even the new decking will come apart. Plank will also rot quite quickly unless pressure treated, maybe the new composite plastic engineered decking would work better. Just my advice for that part of the job although you weren't really asking for it. There are many ways to design stairs, Rae posted something not long ago which will be up on the files page probably but there are easier ways for your purposes. IT would help to know how high and how many stairs you want. There is a sort of magic number, I seem to remember it to be 17. This is the overall total rise & run. It means that a 10 inch tread should have a 7 inch rise, a 12 inch run about a 5 inch rise and so on for a most natural stride. mine here are three feet by 6 inches but for very different reasons and we all know how unnatural it can be on some oddly made steps. The way sighted people do it is to decide on rise and run and use a framing square to draw that out on the stringers using the rulers on the square. I don't find that to be so practical as a blind person. Another determinant will be just how wide are those stairs going to be. If three feet or less and you are using 2 by stock then one way I like to make them is to cut a shallow dado maybe half an inch or a little less in the stringer to accept the end of the step. You then can set your run by laying that out on the bottom of the stringer where it will set on the ground. Use your square and set one edge at the front of the stringer at the front corner, raise the rear corner until you can measure the length of the run along the square with the corner at the rear edge of the stringer. Use a sliding bevel to capture that angle and set it on your mitre saw or line up a guide you can cut along with your circular saw. You now also have your rise on the opposite arm of your square which you can capture the angle from using the sliding bevel and this will also allow you to measure that rise. Some mitre saws have a depth adjustment, mine does not, but which will allow you to cut a fixed depth. Once you have that bottom angle it will be the same one as you need for each stair tread. You may wish to determine the rise by dividing the height from the ground to the porch deck by a number as close to 7 inches as you can get or you may wish to divide the distance by something like 7 or close and halve the remainder so you have a small first and last step or you may keep a small remainder to be the height of the very bottom step. Any way you go, you are using the top of one step to the top of the next as your rise distance. I like to take a piece of scrap, cut it on the angle for the tread then clamp it to the stringer and with my circular saw set to half an inch depth or so make two parallel cuts, one at the height of the top of the tread, a second down the thickness of the tread then a few random cuts between and with a chisel just knock out the wood between. These days I am likely to use a router with a three quarter inch or bigger bit to plow out the dado. For outdoor use I like to use 2 by 4 treads with a small space between them. Less likely to cup and the space allows more rapid shedding of water and less ice. If this is a little too challenging just now then rather than cutting dados just cut spacers the same angle then nail them to the inside of the stringers and set the treads on them, well between them really. For reasons of rigidity you might even cut the front of the spacers at the rise angle or even undercut that angle a little for more toe space and the thickness of a riser.This will stiffen up the steps and depending on the width this may be desirable. If the steps are to be the full 8 foot width you will need intermediate stringers. Actually I would consider building the steps if that wide as a series of stages. You may want to consider forming a triangle with a base from the bottom of the stringer to a post coming down from the top of the stringer so the steps are actually fully supported on the ground and then just attached to the frame of the porch to keep them in place rather than for supporting them. By not cutting actual step shapes in the stringers you have a much stronger structure. Hope this gives you a few ideas. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry Stansifer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 12:51 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Porch > Ok guys, > > I guess it is my turn to take a shot at some of this here > Bob Vila home improvement stuff. > I just purchased an investment property that needs a little > work. I have already done a hot-water heater, a toilet and > sink and the troops are finishing up the vinal flooring and > carpeting to-day. Not about to tackle that one, pure black > magic in my book. > My next undertaking is going to be the front porch. It is 8 > feet wide and 16 feet long with steps leading up to either > end of it. The construction is a 2x8 framework on what I > think you guys call 4 foot centers. The attaching board on > the side of the house, the 2x8 running the 8 foot width to > another big ass plank and the supporting 4x4s all appear to > be in really good shape. The problem is the 3/4 plywood > decking. moisture has gotten between the indoor-outdoor > carpeting and the decking and it is getting a bit weak. > Replacing the decking appears to be pretty strait foreword > even for a guy who just recently learned how to spell > "wood." My question is how the hell do I lay out the steps? > The ones that are there now look like they were hung on as > an after thought and I really don't want to try to use them > as a template. > This is way different than anything I have ever attempted so > please laugh quietly and keep the directions on a remedial > level. Trust me gang... if the contractor that built my deck > for me in trade for a transmission rebuild needed any work > on his Corvette we wouldn't be having this conversation. > Tools, I own a circular saw of unknown origin, a saws-all, a > 14 inch chop saw a Dewalt cordless 18.8 volt drill and a > whole bunch of tools that won't work on wood. > *Enjoy the laugh and thanks for any help you can provide.* > > Regards > > > Larry Stansifer > > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. > http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml > > Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various > List Members At The Following address: > http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ > > Visit the new archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.412 / Virus Database: 268.18.3/699 - Release Date: 23/02/2007 > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> See what's inside the new Yahoo! Groups email. http://us.click.yahoo.com/0It09A/bOaOAA/yQLSAA/86xolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following address: http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ Visit the new archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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