Stop Making This Mistake! - How to Measure Total Exterior Stair Rise ACCURATELY on Uneven Landings
Video by stairbuilding · 1 moment used in Oak Valley Designs's DIY guides · 1:33 long

Moments in this video
- 0:54–1:25 Calculate Final Total Rise
From How to Measure Stair Rise and Run, Step 1: Determine Total Rise
Once the true level horizontal line is established (as described in the previous step), measure the vertical distance from this level line down to the actual finished surface of the lower landing or ground where the stairs will terminate. Compare this measurement to what a direct measurement might have been. If there's a difference between the level line's height at the lower termination point and the actual lower landing height, subtract or add that difference to ensure your total rise measurement is precise. For example, if the lower landing is 2 inches lower than the level line's projection, add 2 inches to the initial vertical measurement from the level line to the upper landing. This correctly adjusted total rise is then used to calculate the individual riser and tread dimensions needed for accurate stair stringer layout and eventual cutting.
The guide that use this video
Transcript
0:00 Here is another problem that you might run into if you're measuring the total rise from the top of the upper level to the bottom of the lower level on an exterior project like this. When in fact you should be measuring from the top and then leveling over so that you can actually get the vertical measurement that you need to calculate the total rise. You can see where this landing here is higher than this over here. So if you don't do it correctly you're going to have a problem with the total rise and the individual rise or height. So you're going to need to somehow use a straight board or a straight edge or even a string or even a laser level that's going to put
0:48 a nice level line on the wall that you can measure from. That way if the landing is too high you're going to know about it and be able to make the adjustments or if it's lower you're going to be able to make the adjustments and you can simply make the adjustments by measuring from either the top or the bottom of a straight edge like a 2 by 4 and then subtract or add the difference to this measurement here to get the overall total rise. You need to calculate the individual risers so that you can lay out your stringer correctly. And thanks for watching. If you enjoyed the video let us know by hitting the thumbs up button or letting us know in the comment area.
Automatically transcribed from the source video.
More from the Oak Valley Designs DIY Hub
Read the guide Browse all guides
Planning this project? Shop Oak Valley Designs.

