Timber Framed Staircase Build

Alternate Title: "Johnny Bills and Johnny Sins build a staircase"

Johnny Build- I couldn’t help but notice, after you bolted the beam in place you didn’t say “that’s not going anywhere”. This is really the only safe measure to insure it doesn’t go anywhere! 😃

that was classic when you blurred everything out and then said look at how beautiful all the plugs came out.haha hehe awesome video

Jonny Builds -'Think about it' is my new favourite sentence 😂😅

I was a stairbuilder for over 20 years. I stopped when I came into the office to take over the business from the owner. Just vetting myself a little, there. 😊 For never building a stair, this was quite well done! There are a few problems, a couple of which are fairly serious, but really it’s pretty amazing that it turned out as well as it did. Stairbuilding is one of the most difficult trades to learn and excel at, so you should be proud! The changes I am suggesting are to safety and structural integrity, and’s aren’t facile nitpicking. The changes I believe are necessary are as follows: 1. Attach the closed side of the treads to the studs in the wall. This is very important since you went with an open design with no risers. You aren’t just walking up that stair, you are also storing material up there that you probably will often be carrying up the stair, adding weight and stress to the treads and single stringer. So, this is an important, necessary addition. This is done fairly easy (and could still be done easily retrofitting). This is done by using a piece of 1/4” angle iron (or channeled) metal stock with a 90 degree bend at the closed end of the tread. The stock should be 4-5 inches wide and inlaid into the tread with a dado cut (using your table saw or router, whatever) lengthwise about 3” from the nose of the tread and an additional, deeper dado for the angle portion of the metal stock. The stock should have a 90 degree bend at the closed end and be 6” in length to attach to the framing, or added blocking in the wall. You can dado the tread and hide the metal support stock by having it countersunk by a 1/4” or 1/2” and then covering it with a 1/4” or 1/2” piece of the tread material inlaid. Then, on the closed end, you can cut out the drywall and attach the 90 degree end to the stud (or blocking you attach to the framing). Most of the time we used C channeled metal stock for additional support instead of angle iron. Once you attach it to the tread and the blocking in the wall, the stair will fex very little. A little bit of flexing on a circular stair is okay, but not for a open, straight stair of your design, which is a sign of structural issues. The treads will eventually pull out from the stringer, or the single stringer will continue to torsion until the structural integrity of the stringer is compromised beyond safe usage. A jerry-rigged solution that might suffice would be to use angle iron stock on the closed side, attached to the end of the tread and then secured to a stud or blocking you add in the wall. There are several ways you could do it, even mortising the stock into the closed end of the tread and attaching it to a stud or blocking. You need to do something, though, because you can do it now and it will be fairly simple, but if you wait until it starts to fail, your options disappear quickly. 2. The second issue is the attachment to the header (joist) under the landing of the 2nd floor. You have a ton of stress concentrated on a very small area. This will eventually sag the header and landing, and tear out or destroy the header, and that will be a difficult repair. Your stair is going to flex and tear out or compromise at that header attachment point pretty quickly ( I’m betting less than 5-10 years). You can accomplish this by adding another layer of 2x material behind the header (sandwiched) and then attach 1/4” angle iron to each side of your stringer, flush with the header, and then use all-thread through the header and another joist behind it to attack the angle iron (and stringer) to the header. You thread the all-thread through holes in the header and joist behind it, adding washers and nuts as you bring it into the header and joist. Then, tighten the nuts to both sides of the header and (at least) one joist behind it, and the angle iron. I would then add another piece of 2x material to the face of the header on each side of your stringer. This hides the angle iron and adds additional support to the sides of the stringer at the attachment point to the header. These additions are important and not difficult to accomplish. If you don’t do these, I think it will fail within 5-10 years, or it will start flexing so much as to be unsafe to ascend. I know it sucks when so-called “experts” chime in and nitpick everything you do. I like your channel and especially the spirit and can-do attitude you have. I learned a lot in my trade just by doing it. I built a lot of tools and jigs that old stairbuilders told me wouldn’t work or weren’t necessary, that then later they copied them or asked me to build one for them. So, I get the frustration you have with people like that. Sometimes, though, the “experts” are right, and this is especially poignant when safety is involved. I’m not talking into my hat, here, the changes I suggest (and there are other ways to accomplish what I suggested) are important. Don’t take my word for it, ask a local stairbuilder to give it a look-see and hear what he has to say. This was a really great build for never building a stair. Stairbuilding has a vicious learning curve, one that almost broke me in my first year in the trade. So, you should be proud of what you did. There are a couple of safety issues that need to be addressed, but overall you did a really great job! Keep up the good work and thanks for showing the world that hard work and a commitment to quality can make dreams come true!

I have built quite a few staircases over the years using concrete in situ, steel, and wood in various combinations. Even the really bulky I-Strings have a bit of give and flex, particularly on hot days.The only ones that don't have any flex are the ones attached to the walls around it via a wall string That goes for overhang concrete stairs aswell. The weakest point on stairs, obviously, normally, is where the riser and tread meet. Watching the video I was wondering whether you were going to inlay any steel under the string. Since this is your own staircase; If at any point the flex and give becomes too much, just add a metal plate, cut exactly like the string shape on a side view, to the wall side out of sight. Kind of laminating steel to wood. This is the same way old oak/cedar beams are strengthened. In my unprofessional opinion, you did a fantastic job. My only real concern is whether the floor joist at the top can handle the weight of the stairs. Having run into a problem on one that I did, I added more timber between 3 joists so that the staircase does not bend the joist where the string is fixed to. I don't really know what the structure looks like there and watched this video on my small phone screen.

Johnny Builds The only thing I could think of at the end when Scott asked "is it supposed to bounce" was "no, no it is not" . I always find your videos informative and entertaining, and like how you explain your thought processes. Thank you for making more.

Lost my husband recently and still have lots of work to do for my house, found your site and am so amazed! I am binge watching to distract myself and it’s all beautiful!

Cam, awesome staircase, looks beautiful. I'll preface this with "I'm not a structural engineer" but I think you should consider beefing up the header joist thing. Your old stair singers were mounted to the edges of the header therefore the header wasn't doing much other than being a riser. Your new stairs are mounted in the middle. Meaning that single joist is now supporting the full load.

Impressed structural engineer here. It's probably stronger than it needs to be for concentric loading (walking up/down the middle of the stairs) but you'll be glad you used that massive piece of DF for torsional stiffness whenever you step out near the edges of the treads. I usually do these out of tube steel for that reason. Think about it. I might have beefed up the top and bottom connections though so keep an eye on it in case they loosen up over time, especially the bottom. But hey, no stamp no problem. Love your work man! From a fellow Cam.

Johnny build. Those plugs all look good to me. "Think about it." I love the staircase and your creativity in designing and enlisting the help you had to do the job.

I think both finishes (light and darker) on the stairs look great. The lighter one, not sure what to call these finishes, looks Scandinavian. The darker one has a warmer, more earthy tone, and I might have been my first choice. Both look great! I don't usually sit through these long form shop videos, but yours are always so interesting and I'm amazed how you basically taught yourself I think? Really high end work work, the tables and everything, wish I could afford lol.

As a carpenter who has built dozens of staircases and done a fair amount of timber framing, you've taken on the two Everests of most residential carpenters' existence! Other than Instrument, and Furniture making, these are the things that most House Carpenters will consider the pinnacle of finish carpentry. Neither of these types of projects are easy, and mistakes are extremely expensive. You guys did an amazing job on this one, especially for first timers!!

Johnny Builds. The last "think about it" was awesome! Loved the ASMR of chiseling the plugs and appreciated the close ups so we could admire their beauty! 😄 Can't wait to see what kind of handrail you add - so many possibilities!

JohnnyBuild And you made tables for a Make-a-Wish charity! That's so awesome. My wife was a wish manager (pretty much a frickin Genie) there for years. One of the best organizations that does some of the most beautiful charity work. And I can speak from first hand knowledge just some of the best humans in the world work there.

Johnny Bills -- the invisible oil finish is a good choice. The other stain would eventually go out of style, but raw wood is always beautiful.

I cannot properly explain how much I love the combination of honest reactions, friendly banter, snarky jokes, and real life applicable skills and advice. Everything from camera man/editor interactions to guests on the channel, its incredibly wholesome and enjoyable to watch. Fucking love your guy's work.

Johnny Builds and Blacktail are my two favorite woodworking channels. You're both entertaining and talented.

Johnny Builds, you don't have to regret your choice. I like the invisible one more because of the greater contrast. Like white cars with black accents look great 👌

Johnny builds! So fun to watch the competitive spirit of this project unfold but I think you were right with the color of the stairs I love the near-white color against the black and I think it fits better with the surroundings!!