The Stair Layout Worksheet — Rise, Run and Stringers Made Simple

Three numbers. That is the whole thing. The one calculation that stops most people cold, worked step by step — with the arithmetic already done for you.

🔨 Stairs are where you cannot muddle through

Readers of Larry Haun's framing book say the same thing over and over: the stair chapter alone was worth the price. That is because everywhere else in framing a small error is absorbed. On a stair it is not. The arithmetic either works, or somebody trips.

Here is the good news. A staircase is defined by three numbers, and two of them you calculate from the first. Stringer layout, headroom, whether it even fits the space — all of it falls out of those three.

📐 What's inside

• Four steps, in order — measure the total rise (to finished floors, which is where people go wrong), find the riser count, get the exact unit rise, then the run
• The four checks — maximum riser, minimum tread, the 2R + T rule and rise-plus-run, each shown passing and failing so you can see the difference
• Headroom — the requirement that has nothing to do with the stair and everything to do with the floor opening above it, and why you check it before that floor is framed
• Two worked examples — one that works out cleanly, and one where the stair doesn't fit, showing what you may legally do about it and what you absolutely may not
• A verified reference table — thirteen common storey heights with riser counts, exact unit rises and total runs, every row passing all four checks
• Laying out the stringer — the framing-square method with stair gauges, why you stop short of the corner with a circular saw, and how to use the first stringer as the template
• Dropping the stringer — the trap that catches almost everybody once and produces a bottom step taller than all the others
• Three fill-in worksheets — calculate the flight, run the checks, and a cutting list with a final sign-off

🏠 Who it's for

Anyone about to cut a stringer for the first time. The owner-builder whose plans show a stair but not the numbers. The apprentice who wants to stop handing this job to someone else.

Written as a companion to The Very Efficient Carpenter by Larry Haun.

📖 Product details

• Format: PDF, instant digital download
• Length: 20 pages, US Letter, print-ready
• Includes: 3 fill-in worksheets, 2 worked examples, verified reference table, labelled stair diagram
• Language: English

Stair dimensions are code-regulated and inspected, and limits differ by jurisdiction. The figures used throughout reflect common residential practice under the IRC and are given to demonstrate the method. Confirm every one of them with your local building department before you cut a stringer. This guide is not an engineering document.