# Forum Home Renovation Stairs, Steps and Ramps  External stairs

## barney118

I am recycling my old external stairs and this time I am going to use hardwood treads, I have rebated 45mm and looking at using 32mm or similar, I have the stairs book from forest and wood, would it be ok to use 140 x 32 spotted gum (decking) x 2 each tread with a 6-10mm gap in the middle? Or would you use something else? I am keen for a 140mm board as probaly cheaper and less chance of twisting over time and water shouldnt pool.
Also what is the requirement for installing on the canterlever over the joist, i.e 3.6m joist with 1m over hang ( one stringer is hard up against bearer stairs running 90 deg to joist, 900 platform on deck, do you require a post to the ground from the joist? or can you just install a post from joist for handrail? The stairs will have a landing inbetween from deck height to ground ~3.2m
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Barney  
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## Bloss

Sketch would be good, this might help Stair Calculator - Layout Stair Stringer, Headroom Rise Run - Metric a 1m overhang not OK - you will need to support it to the ground.

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## barney118

Yes, Bloss obviously trying to avoid a sketch job, but here it is. As you can see the round circles blue indicate a post and the stairs are supported by the platform and the joists, it is the overhang I am concerned about if I need a post to ground or not. It is well supported otherwise.

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## Bloss

Simple answer is yes. Like most things there are a few ways to get a solid result, but posts would be the easiest I reckon - others might offer another suggestion.

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## barney118

I am thinking what is the difference, that you can canter lever joists by 1/3 of the backspan and still be o.k but putting a load of stairs on where its only the outer most section that has a load on it. Heres some progress what I mean, I have built the top landing, now I can build the intermediate one.

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## barney118

I managed to get some Blackbutt 290x45 treads at a good price, I have cut them to length to give 950mm step, I could have gone wider but the weight of these is huge, I plan on putting the top 3 in then installing the rest one by one.
They still have a date with the electric planer and router to roll the edge over before a tub in oil and put some non slip stickers on them. I was thinking of cutting them in half long ways and installing them with a 10 mm gap in the middle for help in water run off, thoughts?  this one has too many cracks?, its the far one on the left of photo 1.
Also, I have put a stringer up to give me an idea of measurements, What would you say if I cut this one off level with the underside of the bearer so the inside stringer is parallel on the inside with the bearer and I could use a steel tread angle on the bearer for the first 2 steps?

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## aido

i am just designing our stairs from a similar height for the deck... running the inside stringer in line with the bearer would be neat, though you lose 50mm in stairwidth(prob not importtant) and a solid fiixing between the bearer and stringer might be harder to achieve? i envy you in that there is a flat concrete pad to work with my stairs run down to an away sloping yard. . lots of fun ahead

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## barney118

I was going to use a post anyway on the stringer, I will actually gain 50mm as there will be no stringer there, and for maintenance reasons I dont have to pull the whole stair section apart if I need to change a tread at the top as one side would be fixed to the bearer and slot in the stringer on the outside. I have put my treads through the thicknesser to tidy them up and through the router table rounding off the edges ready for some oil. Need to buy some posts to support the outside, that was my initial query of why/do they need to support the small canterlever platform, obviously the jury is out on this one. I dont mind if I need them I just want to understand the theory behind its ok to canterlever a balcony but not a platform for stairs.

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## shauck

I would think the extra weight of the actual stairs and the bounce of people (maybe even more than one at a time) tromping up and down would be a bit more than standing still at a balcony. 
You're going to need handrail posts anyway.

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## barney118

> I would think the extra weight of the actual stairs and the bounce of people (maybe even more than one at a time) tromping up and down would be a bit more than standing still at a balcony. 
> You're going to need handrail posts anyway.

  I am with you on this, but design of deck  LL uses 3.0 kpa do designing stairs off joist is covered by AS??
So the platform is only 1m which will have 8 steps to a mid platform so this set of stairs is supported at the bearer/ brick pier at the top and 2 post mid platform. The black wood steps are heavy so at a guess each of the 4 points are responsible for 50 kg ( total 200 kg est) which is negligible? 
I would have put a small post for handrail attached to joist/ platform, but now will have post to ground plus handrail, 4.2m post instead if ~1 m post.
How would have you designed this if it were 5 m off the ground or higher?  
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## shauck

Yeah, that makes sense. I would also be wanting to build it without the extra posts. I just haven't seen anything anywhere about it. I suppose one more thought other than weight is strength of handrails at such a height. I also wondered if doubling up the overhanging joists might be useful. Then sandwich the handrail post between them for a sturdy connection to deck. Just a thought.

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