Securing Your Path: Schloegel’s Handyman Team Upgrades Unstable Stairs to Safety Standards

We live in the Midwest, and nearly every single home has a basement, which means they also have basement steps. Unfortunately, in some of the older homes (and maybe new ones), the basement steps were built without a thought for construction or safety. In Kansas City, we’ve encountered many of these, which was true of these Prairie Village basement stairs.

Unsupported Basement Steps

At first glance, the steps may seem fine, but upon close inspection, there are several issues:

1. They only have two stringers to support them when code requires three.
2. The header isn’t large enough and isn’t providing adequate support.
3. There is no center support at all for the stairs.

Due to these issues, the stairs have undistributed weight and are starting to crack.

SDR’s Handyman Team Repaired the Basement Steps

Emily Robbins, Gerard Algie, and Mitchell Talmage of SDR’s Handyman Services team ensured the steps were repaired/appropriately built over three days. We've included a description of the different parts of the basement stairs. They first set up dust protection and removed all the old stair treads. They then removed the split stair stringer.

 Once the old cracked stringer was removed, they installed two new 2x12 stringers, one in the middle for support and another to replace the cracked one. They then installed new 2x10 treads. They cut the treads to 2” thick x 3’ wide x 9” deep. The team secured the new treads using screws, ensuring they were flush, plumb, and level. Today’s building code requires stairs to have risers so there isn’t an open space between the treads. Emily, Gerard, and Mitchell also installed all new risers. 

With everything installed, they sanded the treads and risers to prevent splinters and smooth them. Once all that was done, they thoroughly cleaned them and then cleaned up the job site. Finally, they hauled all the garbage away so our clients could enjoy their updated, safe basement stairs.

Does your home have a list of fixes? Let our Handyman Services team help you out! See a list of some of our most common tasks.