The Three Questions You Must Ask Your Stair Builder

    Stairs aren't exactly easy on the wallet. People spend three to four percent of the value of their home just on their stairs, as I learned from Doug Adams, the president and owner of Adam's Stair Works, during my visit to his shop. While three to four percent may seem small, it ends up being in the thousands - thousands of dollars that is. Compound that with the fact that staircases can actually be a safety hazard if they're installed incorrectly, and it suddenly becomes very important to get better acquainted with your stair builder.
    Luckily, that doesn't involve a long night of crying over a bottle of tequila. All you need to do is ask your stair builder three questions to know whether or not he or she sells and produces quality work. While at Adams Stair Works, Adams told me not only the three questions ask, but also the answers that signal your stair builder is a keeper.

Question One: When will you Install my Stairs?

    It may seem like a silly question at first. The stairs will be installed when the house is built. But after thinking about it for a minute, you realize that there are many different points throughout the building process when stairs could be installed. The point at which your stair builder chooses will have a great impact on the stability and beauty of your stairs.
    "Our stairs get installed after the home is drywalled, taped and primed," Adams said. "You want it installed during that process because if you install it prior to that the moisture that gets into the building will be absorbed into the stairs and it will expand and when the moisture comes out of [the building], [the stairs] will shrink and that will break some of the glue joints.
    "Also, lots of stairs will get messed up when drywall compound is dripped on them or water. It leaves black dots from the tannic acid in the wood, and you can't get that out. So you need to make sure that you've talked to your builder to make sure to say, 'Hey, when are my stairs going to be installed?" to make sure they get installed at the right time."
    Adams also warned to steer clear of builders who suggest putting the stairs before the roof.
    "If they suggest lowering it in with a crane before the roof's on, maybe you should think twice because it's going to rain," Adams said.
    When it comes to determining when stairs should be installed in a home, Adams suggests thinking of the stairs as pieces of furniture. It will make it easy to remember at what point in the construction process the stairs should enter the home.
    "You don't move your dining room set in before the house is done," Adams said. "So, make sure you put your stair in at the appropriate time also."

Question Two: How do you Plan to Install the Stairs?

    

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The second question makes much more sense on first observation. After all, there must be a right or wrong way to install stairs, and there is.
    "You should ask how your newel posts are fastened to your stair," Adams said. "If they are fastened and bolted to the stair it's called overlay construction, and that method is the weakest method. Where as with mortise and tenon, the post is put in first and everything goes into it. You literally have to cut apart the stair to take that apart. That is the strongest method."
    Another thing to ask about is the cove molding and how much of it your stair builder plans to use.
    "This little piece of cove molding acts like a giant glue block and it helps keep this nosing from breaking off," Adams said. "Some companies are saving money by only putting 12 inches of cove molding on the end of the stair where you see it, but it should run all the way through."
    While its important to know that the stair is built well, for some people they just don't want them to squeak. If that's how you feel, then it's very important that you talk to your stair builder about glue blocks.
    "The glue blocks on the underside of the stairs are very important," Adams said. "They are one of the most critical portions. That is a little wedged block, it's covered with glue and put up in there and it really does the holding power of the stair. The nails that they use just temporarily hold while the glue sets up. If it's just nails, [the stairs will] squeak ... because the nail will just come in and out of that wood."

Question Three: Do you create shop drawings and do I get a copy?

    We've all heard it before, "Get it in writing." Buying stairs is no different. The best to assure that you get the dream staircase you've been drooling over is to ask your stair builder for a copy of the shop drawings.
    "Make sure the company does shop drawings of what you buy and make sure those shop drawings aren't just a plan view," Adams said. "Make sure they show an elevation and you see the balusters, the spindles, the newels and the hand railing that you chose. Make sure they are on that print. Because if it's not on that print, even if you signed off on it, they'll say, nope it matches the numbers I have and then you're stuck. And that's a nightmare."

    To keep from living through a stair-building nightmare, be sure to ask your stair builder the three questions above before hiring him or her. If you don't, you may end up wasting money and being the not so proud owner of a shoddy set of stairs.