To understand stairs, let’s talk about floors. Like many Americans, you might live in a home with a wood-floor system. The ...

If this sounds too complicated, you can simply run a tape measure from the floor of the deck to the point where the stairs will start ... the carriages to the rim joist on the deck.

Install flashing tape to cover the old joists. If you don’t cover ... Then trim and deck the landing. Trace the stair layout ...

You probably give little thought to the stairs you go up or down to reach different levels of your home, deck or patio. I’ ll ...

From a technical standpoint, there's nothing particularly difficult about building stairs for ... will join the deck. They're either attached directly to the rim joist so the top step is flush ...

And if you want to build your own deck or renovate one, you’ll find much of the advice centers on building codes and topics like laying out floor joists or how to lay out a set of stairs on a ...

Once the undercarriage of the deck was complete, I’d cover the top of all the joists and the tops of any beams with the newer joist tape meant for this purpose. This tape seals the top of the ...

Q: Our 35-year-old house has a 7-foot cantilevered deck on the top floor ... how to protect the sides of the joists in the future. (I will use aluminum tar tape on the tops.) ...

Q: Tim, my neighbor discovered that many of his outdoor deck floor joists are rotting. The rot is along the top where the decking attaches to them. It’s treated lumber rated for outdoor exposure.

Plus, “Every hole in a joist hanger should have a nail in it.’’ Preston Picardi of Bulldog Decks said he frequently finds the top of the deck stairs poorly connected.If that connection fails ...

Q: I have a 9-year-old, treated-lumber deck on my home that is showing worrying signs of decay. I removed some of the deck boards and discovered that some of the 2-by-12s are rotting at the top ...