Every house has stairs. You can build them yourself. You just need to know well how to attach the steps of a wooden staircase to the stringer and to the bowstring. There are several assembly methods. Some of them require the actions of a master, others are done with your own hands.
Figure 1. Bowstring and riser markings.
Ladder on bowstrings
Most of the stairs in houses are assembled on bowstrings. This is the supporting structure of a flight of stairs. It is a beam with cutouts made on its inner side. Steps are inserted into these cutouts. This method is considered to be classic. Bowstrings can be made of different materials. Most often, wood, metal, and reinforced concrete are used to make them. The types of wood used are coniferous and deciduous:
- pine;
- cedar;
- fir;
- larch;
- cherry;
- maple;
Conifers are very good, but they produce resin. It prevents the paint from adhering properly. It is preferable to use hardwoods wood
The dimensions of the finished string always depend on how long the flight of stairs is planned to be. For a staircase 90 cm wide, it is recommended to make a string from a board 40-50 mm thick and 30 cm wide. The cutouts for the nests are made approximately 20 mm deep. A minimum string width of 275 mm is allowed. The blank for the bowstring needs to be marked (Fig. No. 1). There are 2 main methods for marking:
- using a ruler and square (Fig. No. 2);
- using a special template.
When marking, consider the following:
- the slope of the march should be 30-40°;
- depth of steps - at least 30 cm;
- the height of each step is 15-20 cm.
To make bowstrings and steps you need to prepare the following:
- roulette;
- square;
- ruler;
- level;
- electric jigsaw;
- drill;
- milling machine (manual);
- hammer;
- bit;
- screwdriver;
- wooden slats or metal corners.
After marking the steps of the stairs using milling machine grooves are cut. Next, the structure is attached to the location of the stairs. This can be done in the following ways:
- install the racks in the holes made in the floor;
- attach the posts with anchor bolts.
Next comes the process of attaching the steps to the string. Treads and risers cut to size and machined are inserted into grooves or screwed to wooden blocks, to the metal corners (Fig. No. 3). These parts must be made with great precision, otherwise the finished structure will become loose and creak. The bowstrings themselves are fastened to each other with ties in 4-5 steps.
Fastening the steps
You can attach wooden steps to a metal or wooden stringer. This is a sawtooth-shaped support beam. The wooden parts are attached to its protrusions. Stringers are installed 1 or more. The steps are attached to them using screws, the caps of which are closed on top with small wooden plugs. It is better to cut the steps from oak or pine. There are usually no risers, which gives the structure a lighter appearance. To assemble a ladder, you need to have skills in working with a welding machine.
Final finishing of the stairs
The fencing makes the stairs reliable. It consists of balusters and railings. The gap between them should not exceed 15-20 cm. They can be fastened from the outside of the bowstring using screws. Dowels, tenons, and pins can be used to fasten balusters. For studs, a hole with a diameter of 12 mm is drilled at the end of the product to a depth of 80 mm. The studs are placed on glue, leaving approximately 7 cm outside. You need to drill holes in the bowstring to a depth of approximately 100 mm. First, install the outer columns. The twine is pulled between them and the remaining balusters are placed. All that remains is to attach the railing, made from a block 8-10 cm wide.
The entire structure is covered with a protective layer of varnish or paint. Anti-slip materials can be laid on the steps. They may be the following:
- carpet;
- linoleum;
- animal skins;
- plywood;
- cork mats;
- polyurethane;
- rubber;
- rubber;
- other materials.
Conclusion on the topic
It is simply impossible to live without stairs in a private house.
Wooden structures have become especially popular.
This video shows one of the methods for installing steps.
Wood is environmentally friendly clean materials. Its service life is measured in several decades. The finished product is easy to repair. You can also make it yourself. You just need to strictly adhere to all sizes. All parts must be well dried and soaked in antiseptics. The finished product is coated with varnish or paint. To prevent your feet from slipping on the steps, you can cover them with anti-slip materials.
Bowstring stairs are one of the traditional types of staircase structures. They have become widespread in country houses and multi-level apartments. Such stairs look much more massive in appearance than their analogues, but they are more reliable and in some ways more attractive. An experienced professional will probably say that stringing a ladder with your own hands is not a problem, but for a novice home craftsman, a lot of unforeseen situations and even problems may arise in the process of work.
Staircase design on bowstrings
The simplest solution is a single-flight wooden structure. It has its own method of fixing steps, which differs significantly from any other fastening options. But first you need to understand what the string of a ladder is and what it represents.
So, the bowstring is, first of all, a supporting staircase structure on which the steps rest. It has the form of a straight or curved beam, depending on the type of staircase, and is installed on one or both sides of the flight. The string has grooves inside into which treads and risers are placed, or overhead strips on which they are placed. It covers the steps from the ends, and rests on the upper and lower transverse beams.
In order for the staircase to remain strong and the sidewalls not to “move apart” in different directions, they are fastened together using metal rods with threaded connections and nuts. In other cases, tie rods with wooden or steel wedges are used.
What to pay attention to when making a bowstring
When constructing a staircase with mortise elements of steps, grooves of small depth are made on the inside of the bowstring - 1.5-2 cm. In the future, treads and risers will be inserted into them. A DIY bowstring for a ladder should have cutouts of the same depth with smooth edges.
To avoid unexpected warping of the staircase structure, you should pay close attention to the precise marking of the relative position of the grooves on both support beams. To do this, it is recommended to make a special template from thin plywood. It must be remembered that the guides on it must be fixed at a distance of 50 mm from the intended line. This is exactly how much the corners should recede from the edge of the bowstring, otherwise it will turn into a stringer. All this can be seen in the attached diagram.
First, longitudinal lines are applied on the inside of the beam, retreating from the edges by 50 mm. This distance can be reduced to 30 mm if necessary. Then they begin to move the finished template along the edge of the bowstring, using guides, and outline the locations of future steps with a pencil.
When applying markings on two strings for one staircase, one should not forget that the location of the grooves on them should be mirrored.
It is important that the marked lines in the upper and lower parts of the support beams coincide with the floor levels of both floors and the staircase opening, and it will be vertical or horizontal - depending on the design of the staircase itself.
How to make grooves correctly
Bowstrings are made from solid boards or laminated veneer lumber. Regardless of the material chosen, the grooves for the treads should be cut perpendicular to the direction of the wood grain. To make them possible, you can use a hand tool, but it will be more convenient to cut out the recesses according to the finished stencil using an electric milling machine in two or three passes.
Before proceeding with the final installation of the stairs, the groove, cleared of chips and fine dust, as well as the ends of the steps, are coated with glue. After which they begin to assemble the structure.
Attaching steps to a string is the simplest solution for constructing a staircase. Its design can have one or more flights, intermediate platforms or turning steps, and be helical or rounded. It all depends on the availability of free space for the staircase, the height of the floor and the style solution. It is decorated with wood carvings or forged elements, performed in combination with various materials, and the steps are made with or without risers.
Do-it-yourself wooden string for stairs is produced by many enterprises in the form of blanks of different sizes:
- (40, 50) x (400) x (4500) mm;
- (30, 40, 50) x (300) x (1500, 2000, 3000, 4000, 4500) mm.
Taking into account the proposed range, you can select the necessary blanks that meet the needs of your project.
If desired, wooden bowstrings can be made with your own hands by analogy with making.
Reference: design load we take two hundred and fifty kilograms onto the stairs; The thickness of the bowstring will be fifty millimeters.
On each workpiece we apply a drawing of a bowstring, which was obtained by calculation.
Grid size 100x100 (mm), grid pitch 2 (mm).
And so, let's see what we got:
Part number one, attached to the left wall of the flight of stairs
Part number two, attached to the rear wall of the flight of stairs
Part number three, attached to the right wall of the flight of stairs
Part number four, attached to the bottom of the flight of stairs
Part number five, attached to the top of the flight of stairs
For clarity, let’s look at the layout of all five parts in the space of a flight of stairs (Fig. 1).
Carefully cut out the blanks along the contours. Let's align their end surfaces. Using a router, we mill grooves twenty-five millimeters deep for the steps. The radius at the corners of each groove is taken to be five millimeters.
Advice: give special attention on the accuracy of marking and milling grooves; to mill grooves, you need to make a template (plywood is good for these purposes); groove depth, mill in three or two passes.
How to do this correctly, watch the video
The main difference between bowstring stairs and other types of stairs is the way the steps are supported. In staircases on stringers, the steps lie on the stringers on top, but here the steps are located between the strings (Fig. 12.1).
When a person steps on a step, it bends down and straightens immediately after the load is removed - a thrust appears at the ends of the step. To prevent the bowstrings from “spreading” in different directions due to the impact of the thrusts, they are fastened with a steel rod having a diameter of about 10 mm; threads are made at the ends of the rod.
Sometimes cords of a different design are used (Fig. 12.2).
Rice. 12.1. In a staircase on strings, the steps are located between the strings
Rice. 12.2. Staircase on wooden strings with mortise steps:
a-general view of the staircase: 7-groove for steps; b- various ways fastening of bowstrings: 2-screw tie; 3-strand with wooden wedges; 4-strand with steel wedges;
c-marking according to the bowstring pattern with the same step sizes: 5-sheet of plywood; 6-wooden guides
Making grooves for steps in bowstrings
Staircases on strings with mortise steps (that is, when risers and treads are inserted into special grooves made in strings) is the most common design (Fig. 12.3). The grooves should have a depth of 15-20 mm.
In order for the tread to fit snugly, the grooves in the bowstring must be made even and of the same depth.
The structure will not warp if the string is accurately marked before cutting. To mark the grooves, use a template, the design of which is practically no different from the template made for stairs with stringers.
The template for marking the bowstrings is also made from plywood. The difference between this template is that when making it, the slats need to be shifted by 30-50 mm from the design dimensions of the step (Fig. 12.4). The indentation is made so that during sawing you do not accidentally cut through the string to the very edge of the workpiece, thus turning it into a stringer.
ATTENTION
When marking two strings of one ladder, remember that the strings are mirror image each other and, accordingly, they need to be marked in a mirror way.
The risers and treads should be marked by moving the template along the edge of the string. To do this, draw a reference line (along the edge) at a distance of 3-5 cm from the long edge of the bowstring. Moving the template along the edge of the bowstring, mark the lines of the steps with a pencil, their tops should be on the drawn line. At one end of the string, the extended marking line should correspond to the floor level top floor or an intermediate platform, on the other - at the floor level of the first floors. You can saw off these ends right away, but it will still be better to first try on the bowstring at the place where it is installed.
Rice. 12.3. Such a staircase on bowstrings will easily decorate even a palace
Rice. 12.4. Making grooves in the bowstrings and the process of assembling the stairs:
a- making a stencil: 1- pencil; 2- reference line; J- tread; 4-line tread;
6-groove milling: 5-groove; 6- stencil; 7-string; c-assembly of stairs
There are two ways to make grooves for treads:
hand tools;
milling machine.
Regardless of what kind of wood the string was made from (solid or laminated), the grooves for the steps must be selected obliquely in the direction of the wood grain.
Of course, it would be better to use a milling machine and mill the bowstrings using a plywood stencil. A similar stencil is made like this: you need to nail two bars parallel to the edges of the bowstring to a piece of rectangular plywood, the distance between them should eventually become equal to the width of the bowstring.
1. Place the plywood stencil on the string and mark a reference line on the stencil.
2. Remove the wooden slats from the step template and place the template on the groove stencil so that the reference lines match.
3. Draw lines that correspond to the sides of the step.
4. Place a tread on the stencil and trace it.
5. If necessary, expand the hole size by a distance that is equal to the distance between the round flange of the milling machine and the cutter (see Fig. 12.4).
6. Using a jigsaw and drill, make an enlarged hole in the stencil for the tread.
7. Then place the string on the sawhorses and install the made stencil on the string.
9. Run the cutter along the string to a depth of 1.5-2 cm in several passes.
10. At the end of the work, it is necessary to process the corners of the grooves using a chisel.
Attaching steps to strings
Before installing the steps into the strings, coat the ends of the steps with glue.
If you are making connections on wedges, widen the grooves in the bowstrings with a slope towards the back of it, they should turn out to be trapezoidal. The tread inserted into the grooves is wedged from below using wedges, the wedges press it to the upper side of the recess (Fig. 12.5, 12.6).
Often, to ensure safety and increase the reliability of the connection, the treads are also attached to the bowstring using screws screwed into the front side of the bowstring. The heads of the screws will not spoil the appearance of the stairs if they are buried in the bowstring and then puttied.
You can do it a little differently: deepen the screws into the wood of the bowstring, then glue the holes with wood plugs and sand them.
There are other methods by which steps can be attached to the strings, for example, fastening the steps to the strings with square and triangular bars, fastening the steps with hammers or steel fasteners.
In order for these methods to be applied, the bowstrings must be made of planed smooth boards that do not have grooves. Ribbons or short bars are attached to the inside of the boards with screws, to which the steps are later attached.
The treads and risers in these connections are fastened in the same way as the connections of stairs on stringers.
Arrangement of turning staircases on bowstrings
When arranging turns for stairs on strings that do not have intermediate platforms, connect the strings to the racks of the stair railing (Fig. 12.7), you can also use rotary fittings.
Joining the staircase on bowstrings with fencing balusters looks very beautiful and elegant, and it is also a reliable and durable connection. All stresses arising in the lower chord of the staircase, joined in this way, are transferred to the staircase railing, that is, to the upper chord of the staircase structure. In other words, as a result of joining with the help of stair balusters, a spatial system is formed, characterized by enviable rigidity.
Connecting strings using swivel fittings is more difficult to do than the previous one compound. However, this option also has its advantage - it does not limit the design of the staircase to only one type of fencing. In principle, this connecting point is a truncated version of the connection on balusters, but without the upper chord of the staircase structure. Instead of a turning beam (as in the previous connection), short pieces of bowstring are used here. The connections between parts of the bowstrings must be made of very high quality.
Rice. 12.5. The bowstring ladder is almost ready
Rice. 12.6. Options for connecting steps with strings: a-joining steps into a groove; b- joining steps without a riser into the grooves of the bowstring: /-riser;
2- tread; 3- groove; 4-string;
c- joining treads with an overhang and risers into a groove
bowstrings;
d- joining steps without risers into the grooves of the bowstring with wedging;
d - joining steps with risers into the grooves of the bowstring
with wedging: 5- wedge;
e- connection of steps without risers with bars,
sewn onto the bowstring: 6- block;
g-connection of steps with grooves sewn
on the string: 7-notch
The strings of two-flight stairs are attached in the same way (Fig. 12.8):
the central support post of the fence is attached to the supporting platform beam, and the internal strings of the descending and ascending flights of stairs are cut into it;
the bowstrings are bolted to the side faces of the supporting baluster; wall strings are nailed, respectively, to the wall.
To make landings, 50-mm tongue-and-groove boards are usually taken, which are laid on top of the landing beams; the boards are placed on beams near the walls. The platform beams are hemmed from below.
Rice. 12.7. Options for making connections of the “tenon and groove” type in the bowstrings of turning stairs: a- joining the bowstrings on the baluster: 7-string; 2- baluster; b- articulation of strings on rotary fittings: 3- rotary fitting
Rice. 12.8. Options for knots connecting strings on the turning platform of a two-flight staircase: a- articulation of strings on the central support; b- articulation of bowstrings on balusters (allows marches to be moved apart)
Typically, bowstrings are made from glued boards, and all inserts are made with glue. It must be said that the knots of stairs on wooden joints gradually become loose and begin to creak, so if you are new to carpentry, it is better to connect the strings with metal fasteners, with the help of which you can securely and permanently fix the joining joints.
Stairs between floors in country houses are equipped with load-bearing beams, which are stringers or bowstrings. Both designs are quite reliable, but differ in the way the steps are attached to the beams. A staircase with a bowstring, in which the steps need to be attached to the internal grooves, adapts best to the surrounding interior.
The outer part hides the docking points, which does not spoil appearance designs. The appearance of the staircase is flat and inclined, the steps are located with their ends between the boards. You can buy a ready-made wooden or metal stringer with a jagged edge, and the fastening is carried out on the teeth for the boards.
The size of a ladder with a stringer is more compact, but less reliable. Owners of multi-storey housing choose different ways, how to attach steps to the string of a wooden staircase, making them open or closed, with the organization of a riser. You can always buy finished project, but if desired, all work can be done with your own hands.
Ladder with a bowstring
The staircase will be more reliable and convenient during active use if the fence is secured to it with balusters. Each support column is attached vertically to the handrail, connecting at the bottom with the beam in increments of no more than 15 centimeters. Such fastening is necessary for the safe placement of the fence and a minimum margin of safety.
Installation of a wooden staircase can be done independently in a short time, but it is necessary to carefully select the wood for the structure to prevent cracking and release of resin over time. Reliable material and competent calculations make it possible to install the staircase for a long time, while none of the parts will let the owner down in terms of service life. Railings and platforms, flights of stairs to any floor must be secured with balusters, so the installation of this element is especially important.
You can fasten balusters on stairs that have a bowstring at their base anywhere, since the fastening is done not on a step, but on a beam. Typically, the installation of racks is done from the outside in the sidewall of the supporting beam. In this case, screws are used, which are screwed into the grooves and covered with decorative dowels. A baluster is attached to the lamella over the edge through a board the size of which is larger than the bowstring. Such a baluster has a groove at the bottom that fits onto the bowstring. The racks are screwed on top of this structure using self-tapping screws.
Experts recommend fastening the structure when attaching it to the bowstring with wood glue (joining them), and fastening it with clamps. Balusters are placed on the beam using dowels and round tenons for fastening. It is necessary to first make a hole in the rack for them, avoiding any backlash. The dowels are inserted tightly into the racks and fixed with an adhesive solution. The string and the railing are connected by the lower parts of the dowels.
How to attach the stands to the bowstring?
The racks must be secured to the surface of the support beam with studs. To do this, you will need a regular drill and a miter saw. The materials you will need are the bowstring itself, fencing posts, galvanized studs with a thread of at least M6, and PVA glue in a tube. Typical work sequence:
- It is necessary to mark the places for attaching the railings in the form of racks. If a complex design is chosen, it is recommended that the project be checked by professionals;
- It is recommended to securely fasten the stand and cut off its lower corners, maintaining the angle of the inclined beam;
- Make holes with a diameter of 12 mm for a length of 80 mm;
- Drown the pins in the adhesive and insert them into the holes, leaving 7 centimeters out;
- Make holes in the bowstring; to do this, the drill bit needs to be secured to 14 mm. Work depth – 10cm;
- Balusters are inserted with pins, and the fixation process starts from the outer pillars.
The step is attached to the string of the staircase by insertion or mounting on supporting parts. These include special bars that are attached to the beam using screws on the tread. The tread itself is attached to the supports with the same screws.
Some experts recommend merging the step. In this case, short bars are used for gluing, which makes the surface not solid, but with longitudinal and transverse seams. You can join them in a checkerboard pattern, which is reminiscent of parquet joining.
The option of arranging a staircase with steps embedded in the bowstring with grooves 2 cm deep is allowed. It is necessary to first mark them, retreating from the edge of the edge, and then insert a tread with a riser inside. The most in a simple way is screwing the board from the end with a screw.
The staircase and its string will be reliable and safe if the strings are joined on the balusters. In this case, the beam has several sections, the fastening of which is made in the baluster grooves.
The entire incoming load from the top of the stairs is transferred to the fence posts, so during operation the entire structure becomes a single system. The balusters, step and string will be interconnected. The choice of step type does not affect the strength of the structure, but if the steps are spliced, the surface characteristics will be significantly improved.
Methods for attaching steps to a string ladder
Mortise mount
You can make a mortise-type fastening yourself using a drill and hand router, chisel and jigsaw, screwdriver. It is also worth preparing screws, plywood, wood slats, risers and treads.
- The string needs to be marked with a plywood template, in which the tread is cut with or without a riser to the size of the march;
- Draw a reference line indented from the edge of the edge by 50mm;
- Make a fastening for guide rails that slide along the top of the board. The template is moved along the material so that the tops of the zigzag steps are located along the reference line;
- Grooves are made in the bowstring, with the obligatory observance of the angle to the location of the fibers of the material. A reliable way to make the correct groove is to use a stencil with a hole in the plywood. In this case, you can use a jigsaw and a drill to make the desired hole size;
- The beam is placed on the trestle, a stencil is placed on top of it so that the tread matches, and a fastening is made;
- Using a router in a clockwise direction, cut a groove 20 cm deep, after which the corners are processed with a chisel;
- Having made the required number of grooves, the staircase is assembled, each step in the groove is coated with glue;
- The risers and treads must be secured with a screw, each step from the outside is attached with screws to the string. A decorative plug is installed on top of the fastener.
Fastening with supports
Fastening steps using metal supports does not require milling. The only tools you will need are a hammer and a drill, nails, screws and metal corners. You need to mark the tread according to a plywood template, then fasten the support block with nails. The metal corners are secured with screws using prepared holes. Each step is connected to the supporting element with a screw.
A staircase with a one-sided string, when the function of the second is performed by the wall, is made as a fastening for steps and balusters. To do this, you need to make a bowstring in which to cut mortise grooves with a router. Treads and risers are assembled into steps. The bottom of the step is attached to the groove on the support beam on one side, and on the other to the baluster.
The lower racks are secured to the floor with bolts, connecting the base of the lower step to them with screws. The second stage is installed, fixed to the fence post (handrail). The back of the bottom step is needed to support the front of the next step, and the middle is fixed to the posts. This principle works for all steps in the ladder.