How to Construct (or Build) a Staircase
About this guide
This guide is specifically for constructing the straight element of a staircase if you've opted to have your staircase delivered in kit form.
Should you have a turn in your stairs, then treat it as two straight flights with a separate turn. Check out our Guide How to Fit Winder Turns for more information on assembling the turns.
Top tips
Once up, leave it up
This is the number 1 rule when learning how to construct stairs: Once the stairs are up and glued, leave them for a while. Allow the glue to fully set before you walk up and down it, this may not sound like much but it can be the difference between your staircase having that one annoying squeak or being forever squeak-free!
Everything is pre-cut and ready to be fixed
Do not amend or trim anything unless specified in our Guides. If you feel that you have no choice please contact us, it could be that you have something in the wrong place and just need a fresh pair of eyes.
No gaps
Do not leave any gaps and please ensure that all wedges, blocks, staircase treads and risers are firmly fixed into place.
Clear some space
Give yourself lots of room as ideally you will build the flight and then manoeuvre the flight into place fully assembled.
Assemble strings, treads and risers
First of all, lay one of your strings flat on the floor and dry wedge the treads and risers at each end of the staircase. Next, place the opposite string on top and dry wedge this in place. You can now lay the staircase flat on the floor and slot the remaining treads and risers into their housings. If your stairs have newel posts be sure to put the notched treads in the correct housings (look at your plan drawing), notched treads should be numbered.
Board and clamp the staircase
The next step is to board and clamp the staircase before we wedge all of the treads and risers. To do this put some loose timber boards / packers either side of the staircase stringers to prevent marking from clamping, now clamp over the width. Once the staircase is completely square tighten all clamps (Place one edge of your square against the stringer and let the other run down the riser. You will need to make sure the tread and riser sit fully down in the stringer trenching before checking for square).
Fix the wedges in to place
Now that we are happy with the fit, we want to fix the wedges in place. In order to do this, we first remove the wedges and apply a generous helping of glue. Next slot them into their housings, do so liberally to ensure that they are firmly in their housings. Now do the same with your risers.
Fix the risers to the treads
This stage is very important, and if done correctly your staircase should be forever squeak free! The first step is to fix the risers to the treads, using a chisel prize open a slight gap between the tread and riser, next run a small bead of glue (we recommend PU woodweld or similar) along the back of the tread where the riser will meet.
Beware not to over glue this joint, especially if the flight is not being carpeted as the glue can be difficult to remove from the face of your staircase - it’s best to run the bead of glue towards the under edge of the stair.
You are now ready to screw the riser to the tread, if your treads and risers are MDF we recommend 40mm screws, on timber 30mm should be ample to fix a 10mm riser. Use 3-4 screws in the pre-drilled holes, be careful not to over tighten or let the screws spin. If screwing into a hardwood tread, you will need to drill a pilot hole approximately 2-3mm in diameter.
The next step is to glue the angle blocks in place with generous amounts of glue, it is very important that these are fixed properly, and the glue is allowed to set before use.
