Posted on Mar 10, 2009 under Deck Stairs |
If your deck stairs become very slippery when the weather is icy and you can’t get down your Deck Stairs it is possible to use items already in your pantry to clear the ice.
One thing that does work really well is table salt – but it’s expensive. If you’ve got a water softener, and you have the ‘flakes’ for it that’s even better. The only bad thing about salting steps is that it will age the wood faster as it will expose the wood to ”freeze and thaw ” cycles. It’s a good idea to also sweep the salt off your deck stairs after you’ve melted the ice.
A word of warning however – don’t use hot water – as all you’ll do is melt the ice that’s on there and make fresh ice (unless it’s above freezing).
If you want something that’s inexpensive and works very well for traction on deck stairs and also won’t harm them, get some grit and sprinkle it on. This works really well for a short term solution.
Posted on Jan 02, 2009 under Deck Stairs |
If you want to build a deck with curved Deck Stairs leading from an upper deck to a lower deck then I have outlined below the overview of the process.
An example might be if the deck itself is about 16 feet wide and the center of the deck stairs are 2 or 3 feet further out than the ends of the stairs, giving a radius of roughly 8.5 feet to the circle inscribed by each tread. Your stair boards that sit on top of the stair joists need to be cut to shape. Also your stair joists will need to be cut to the correct shape to provide support under each stair board.
I’d recommend using three stair joists. A long one in the center and two shorter ones on the ends. Then if you want to add a finish trim underneath the stair boards, you will have to bend them.
That is normally done by steaming the board then bending it around a form that bends the ends slightly more than the amount they will be bent on your deck stairs. You then pin your board in place after bending it around the form and let it sit for a while to gain the bent shape. Once you release it from the form it will bend out a little, just like a spring would. Then just nail your bent trim in place.
One further point – remember on your stair joists to account for the trim width if you are going to add trim.