Building stairs to my attic, need help

[fxstbi]

Hi All, I'm building some stairs in my garage so I can access the attic. They're three feet wide and I'm going up about nine feet high. I laid out three 2X12's, checked the crown and made sure I had it up and cut the 15 steps required. Two of my boards stayed straight and the third bowed toward the step cutout by over an inch. I put the straight boards up and have them level and I assumed that I should put the bowed board in the center. I have it temporarily in place and it is very high in the center because of the bow. Any suggestions on how to solve this? I thought I could add a temporary block to the center of the bowed board, drill a hole in it and attach a rope and bucked filled with weights to pull the bow out and then install my stair treads, removing weight as the stairs naturally got heavier. Am I on the right track? Thanks in advance.

 

[JimVonBaden]

I do not know much about this kind of thing, but if it were me I would not install the middle. Install all of the steps and risers first, then install the middle one in the middle, and work your way to both ends using screws to draw it to the steps. The install the hangers on the ends.

I could just be FOS, but that is how I would do it.

 

[The Cobbler]

by board do you mean stringer? do you have open stringers or closed stringers?
if I'm understanding your post, sounds like the stress in the wood "open stringers" took over when you cut them out.

 

[My Old Tools]

Throw it our and buy another one. That bow will fight you from now on.

 

[CNGsaves]

^ ^ ^ +1 . . . . cut a new stringer. Use old one for firewood !!

 

[readhead]

Cut a new one. It's not worth the fight. Can you still pull one of the others down to use as a pattern?

 

[fxstbi]

Arrg! Cutting a new one isn't the answer I was wanting but I felt the same way, a new one it is. Thanks all for the quick replies!

 

[Cyberbear]

No guarantee that a new stringer won't warp as well as the first one did. Cut pieces to span across all three stringers from below. Lag the pieces at both ends and use them to draw the bow out of the warped middle stringer. Put in all the tread and riser pcs. (if used) and see how that works out. This will probably work best with green wood as it dries in place.

 

[stafford]

Are your stairs going against the wall? If they are you can use the crooked one against the wall. Take one of your straight stringers and put it against the wall where the stairs are going and mark along the bottom of the stringer from bottom to top. Nail a 2 x 4 on that line, just like it was your stringer. Now take your saw and saw relief cuts in that crooked stringer from the bottom so you can straighten it. Put all three stringers together with 2 x 4 at the top and bottom cut to the length that you want your stair width to be. Make sure the crooked stringer with the relief cuts goes on the side that will be against the wall where you 2 x 4 is nailed. You'll probably have to have at least one helper maybe two. slide the stairs into place and get the top where it needs to be. Now do whatever it takes to get that crooked stringer even with the bottom of your 2 x 4 and nail the piss out of it. This will work very well. I did it for a fellow maybe a month ago. his stringers went all to hell after he cut them and one of them was a lot worse than the rest. It went against the wall and got nailed to the 2 x 4 like i described above. worked like a charm. If you need pics, I can go by and take some and post them for you

Good luck, Stafford