A practical look at marking and cutting stair stringers for a building project. Focused on the process, tools, and step-by-step craftsmanship. How do you approach stair layout?

Deck stairs look simple until you cut your first stringer wrong. I have done that, and one bad cut can waste a whole board. Building deck stairs is one of the most useful DIY projects you can take on.

Calculating the step dimensions, laying out stringers and building a sturdy set of deck stairs.

"You can absolutely cut a stair stringer if only you only knew the way the math works," my dad once said to me. So, long before I ever had a geometry class, I knew the math behind determining a slope.

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 wager that if I handed you a measuring tape, a framing square, a pencil and ...