Custom Stair Case Build (Lots of Pics)

saluki2007

This is a project my father and I have been working on since June for my wife and I house will just moved into this past summer.  It has been such a fun project and it turned out so awesome that I had to share it with you guys.  Hopefully we will be putting the final touches on it this weekend.

Started by making the treads that I refurbished out of the rafters of the house that my wife's grandmas house she was born in.  I've estimated that when the wood was a tree it had to be at least 250 years old.  Here is what it looked like before we started.



We ran these through a planner to clean them up since they had been sitting in my father in laws barn for about 30 years.  The stuff was so hard that we had to flip the blades every three boards.



After the planner we cut them to about the width we wanted for the treads.  Had to glue and lag two together to get the depth we needed.



Once the glued dried I found a place that had a large wire brush machine that could clean out the soft would that was in the grain.  This would allow there to be some grip to the wood.  After that we sprayed on a clear coat sealer to help prevent splintering of the wood.



Meanwhile we were also installing our stringer for these to sit on.  We had a local company make us 2 C channel beams and risers.  I painted these will black Rustoleum hammered finish paint.  If you have never used or seen this paint, I would highly recommend it.  It is a very cool paint.  We had to get the beams in place first before we put the risers on.  The two channels alone combined for 425 pounds.  We used a "pulley-man" device to get it lifted up into place.




After getting this secured to the wall and floor we moved on to installing the risers and used temp treads to help get them level and lined up.





After this was getting the actual treads on.



Next step was to prevent someone from falling into the hole for the basement stairs.  We fabricated all the railing for this at my dads machine shop.  We bought the stainless steel rope and fitting online.  I painted the posted and hand rail with the same hammered finish black paint.



Now it was time to get the hand rail going up the stairs completed.  Also, the little one is now crawling all over the place so we need to put a gate up so she wouldn't fall down the basement stairs.  We used self closing hinges we found on amazon with a locking latch.



Finished painting the rail for the loft last night and will hopefully be getting it up this weekend.  I'll post pictures of the final when we get it up.  Feel free to ask any questions.

Thatgrimguy

That's incredible. Looks so slick. What amazing skills and tools to do this project. Looks like a New York high rise.

saluki2007

Thatgrimguy said:

That's incredible. Looks so slick. What amazing skills and tools to do this project. Looks like a New York high rise.

This what happens when your wife spends too much time looking at Houzz.

Spaightlabs

Beautiful work!

Your wife could do better than you.  Just saying'.  

fishlessman

great job.  been thinking about building a set similar but with a spiral turn at the bottom to fit it where it needs to go. not ready to lose the bedroom because im wicked slow with these projects. how long did it take start to finish

saluki2007

Spaightlabs said:

Beautiful work!

Your wife could do better than you.  Just saying'.  

That is the most under stated thing I have ever read on this site.  

saluki2007

fishlessman said:

great job.  been thinking about building a set similar but with a spiral turn at the bottom to fit it where it needs to go. not ready to lose the bedroom because im wicked slow with these projects. how long did it take start to finish

Started making treads in April.  We started putting the stringer up in July.  Hopefully will be completed this weekend.  Could have obviously been done quicker, but my dad is an aerospace engineer and everything had to be exact.  At one point he was pissed off because something was off a 1/4 inch.

Dyal_SC

Looks awesome!  You should be very proud of that.  It's always rewarding when a project like that comes together.  

fishlessman

saluki2007 said:

fishlessman said:

great job.  been thinking about building a set similar but with a spiral turn at the bottom to fit it where it needs to go. not ready to lose the bedroom because im wicked slow with these projects. how long did it take start to finish

Started making treads in April.  We started putting the stringer up in July.  Hopefully will be completed this weekend.  Could have obviously been done quicker, but my dad is an aerospace engineer and everything had to be exact.  At one point he was pissed off because something was off a 1/4 inch.

i know it would take me longer and probably wouldnt even get to the railings, need to do it someday, i have a whole second floor with only a ladder for access

SMITTYtheSMOKER

What a project, beautifully done.

saluki2007

fishlessman said:

saluki2007 said:

fishlessman said:

great job.  been thinking about building a set similar but with a spiral turn at the bottom to fit it where it needs to go. not ready to lose the bedroom because im wicked slow with these projects. how long did it take start to finish

Started making treads in April.  We started putting the stringer up in July.  Hopefully will be completed this weekend.  Could have obviously been done quicker, but my dad is an aerospace engineer and everything had to be exact.  At one point he was pissed off because something was off a 1/4 inch.

i know it would take me longer and probably wouldnt even get to the railings, need to do it someday, i have a whole second floor with only a ladder for access

Haha.  We had the permanent treads on before we moved in, Aug 1, but didn't have the hand rail up the stairs until the beginning of this month.

RRP

Beautiful! Question though - you're not aware Baby Saluki could wedge through the risers?

tarheelmatt

Wow!  Very nice work.  

RRP

fishlessman said:

great job.  been thinking about building a set similar but with a spiral turn at the bottom to fit it where it needs to go. not ready to lose the bedroom because im wicked slow with these projects. how long did it take start to finish

Yo Mike - I know you can buy several designs of metal spiral staircases and just add your own wood - or were you planning to fabricate all yourself - hence the slowness?

tarheelmatt

If I was to do this, we'd never have stairs and would have to access the upstairs some other way (via ladder I suppose).  I've been painting the inside of our house for 14 years now.  

johnmitchell

Just plain Awesome... Fantastic craftsmanship and the end result is stunning..

fishlessman

tarheelmatt said:

If I was to do this, we'd never have stairs and would have to access the upstairs some other way (via ladder I suppose).  I've been painting the inside of our house for 14 years now.  

thats what i have, a ladder, put a temporary shower up there when my one bathroom exploded in with a broken pipe. 2 years climbing a ladder to take a shower in a 20 degree room. steam actually turned to snow

Brisket_Fanatic

Very cool! Best part is the smile on Momma's face.

saluki2007

RRP said:

Beautiful! Question though - you're not aware Baby Saluki could wedge through the risers?

The gap in-between the treads is not large enough for her to get through.  The only thing I am worried about would be her climbing up them and falling backwards down them as they are very hard wood and the floor is concrete.  At the moment she is not climbing, just crawling.  We have tinkered around with a couple of ideas as to how to block them with a temporary solution.

RRP

@Dyal_SC - I see you dinged me about my concern that his baby could wedge through. That a fat finger stroke or do you know something to prove my concern is invalid?

nolabrew

My absolute favorite part of woodworking is re using old timber.  Those stairs look amazing.  Good job!

fishlessman

RRP said:

fishlessman said:

great job.  been thinking about building a set similar but with a spiral turn at the bottom to fit it where it needs to go. not ready to lose the bedroom because im wicked slow with these projects. how long did it take start to finish

Yo Mike - I know you can buy several designs of metal spiral staircases and just add your own wood - or were you planning to fabricate all yourself - hence the slowness?

ive actually built spirals years ago and sold them, they are terrible when you need to move something. im thinking i could just spiral the bottom 3 or 4 treads, make it narrow to gain space down stairs and make the ceiling opening wide to get things upstairs. in the planning stage for 16 years now. my lower level is just 1000 sq foot and i could use the space if the upstairs was usable. the slowness is every project in this house starts with a project and its big projects. this one would be knock down two bedrooms, move them upstars (preferably before knocking out those two rooms), adding the stairs, changing those two lower rooms into a kitchen, then taking out my currant 8x8 kitchen   change that to the eating area. do this while still going to camp which gives me tue,wed,and thu night to do the work.  and before this can be done i need to find a way to marry into money easypeasy

blind99

that is amazing!  very nice work!
@tarheelmatt my thoughts exactly.  i'd just tell people it's not lack of stairs, i just converted my 2 story house into a ranch

MelSharples

saluki2007 said:

RRP said:

Beautiful! Question though - you're not aware Baby Saluki could wedge through the risers?

The gap in-between the treads is not large enough for her to get through.  The only thing I am worried about would be her climbing up them and falling backwards down them as they are very hard wood and the floor is concrete.  At the moment she is not climbing, just crawling.  We have tinkered around with a couple of ideas as to how to block them with a temporary solution.

I wouldn't worry too much about falling backwards as long as you have the tops of the stairs gated you should be fine. My oldest fell down a set of split level stairs when she was a toddler after misjudging where the stairs began. Thankfully it only cost us a few minutes of tears. Funny how we all managed to survive without baby gates and safety locks, different time I guess...

Great work, wood is beautiful!

YEMTrey

Beautiful work and home.

RRP

fishlessman said:

ive actually built spirals years ago and sold them, they are terrible when you need to move something. im thinking i could just spiral the bottom 3 or 4 treads, make it narrow to gain space down stairs and make the ceiling opening wide to get things upstairs. in the planning stage for 16 years now. my lower level is just 1000 sq foot and i could use the space if the upstairs was usable. the slowness is every project in this house starts with a project and its big projects. this one would be knock down two bedrooms, move them upstars (preferably before knocking out those two rooms), adding the stairs, changing those two lower rooms into a kitchen, then taking out my currant 8x8 kitchen   change that to the eating area. do this while still going to camp which gives me tue,wed,and thu night to do the work.  and before this can be done i need to find a way to marry into money easypeasy

Sounds like it's time to call in favors from a certain architect!

WeberWho

That's fricken cool! Awesome work 

northGAcock

A thing of beautiful.

saluki2007

nolabrew said:

My absolute favorite part of woodworking is re using old timber.  Those stairs look amazing.  Good job!

I've done quite a bit of salvaging for our home.  My FIL tore down one of his old barns and let us use what ever we wanted from that.  I used the corrigated metal roof for the awing on our front and back porch.



Cleaned up the doors to use in the house




Used the siding in our master bathroom and a buddy is building a butler bar with the rest of the siding.

johnmitchell

Ok now you are just showing off...

McStew

@saluki2007 Amazing !!!!