# Forum Home Renovation Stairs, Steps and Ramps  timber stair on top of an old rocky stair, the easy way?

## pkjames

Hi everyone,
I came across this forum from woodworkforums, very impressive forum indeed, got heapz of things to read. I recently want to *build a timber decking stair to replace the old rocky stair in the garden*. I will try to explain myself clearly but since I have never done this before, please let me know if I am missing any information here.
So, here is an overview of the current stair. TOP and Bottom are not straight, there is a slight bend. Top part is relatively well built with similar rise and run. Bottom part on the other hand is somehow in much poorer built quality, run is uneven.    
Below shows the construction of BOTTOM part,   
My current idea is: build the stair in two parts, each covering top and bottom respectively, and connect them with a landing.  I think maybe an open stringer type stair is easier?.     
The last thing I want to do is to remove the whole stairs as I want to do all these by myself and a couple of mates (all with not much experience), so please advice based on the simplest method. I do have quite a few woodworking tools, like saws, drills and grinders.
There are some questions typed on the pics but here is the summary of my questions (some maybe so obvious to the pros here  :Tongue:  ) ** Is open stringer an okay way to go?
* I don't want to touch (remove, demolish) the TOP part, so maybe I can just put a square frame on each run of the TOP part and screw the decking? If a set of stringers are must,  do I need to cut a slot to somehow on the current steps to secure the stringers a bit? Or 
* For the bottom part, should I demolish the bottom part and build or I can just use stringers to cover them? (sort of partially the same as previous question).
* In last pic, there is also a junk area at the lower ground, an other decking maybe a good idea?* 
Sorry for so many questions, Thanks a lot for your advice. 
Cheers,
James

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## greg9876

Dont take too much notice of my reply as I am only an beginner.  :Smilie:   
Starting with the top photo I think you could build a series of frames over the existing steps, using some threaded rod and chemical anchors to attached it to stable parts. Remember each step should be the same size. I would start by constructing a landing where the blue and red lines meet in the first photo. Once that was done you could measure the space going up and pick a suitable tread/rise combination to get you to the top. Making the frames will be slow and fiddly but reasonably cheap. 
On the bottom set, they look pretty bad I would make new stringers and cover them up. Perhaps consider a set of standard metal stringers. If space is tight dig them out.

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