Tell us the room, the ceiling height, and what you are picturing.
What We Offer
A staircase is one of the few pieces of carpentry in a house that gets touched every day, so it is judged by feel as much as by looks. You notice it in your feet before you notice it with your eyes.
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How We Work
We build custom stairs, replace treads and risers, and fit railings for homes and commercial properties around Tampa.
Every step on a flight should have the same rise and the same run. The body learns the pattern within two steps, and a single riser a quarter inch off is enough to catch a toe on, which is why uneven stairs feel wrong even when they look fine.
This is not just feel. The residential code most Tampa work falls under limits risers to 7-3/4 inches and allows no more than 3/8 inch of variation between the tallest and shortest riser in a flight, with treads at least 10 inches deep. We set the rise and run out from finished floor to finished floor, not from the subfloor, so the first and last steps match the rest once flooring goes down.
Most stair jobs are not new stairs. If the stringers, the sloped boards that carry the treads, are sound and the rise is even, new treads and risers can go over the existing structure at a fraction of the cost of a rebuild.
If the stringers are cut too deep, cracked at the notches, or the rise varies beyond what code allows, covering them up is wasted money. We check the stringers before quoting and tell you which of the two jobs you are looking at.
Under carpet you usually find construction-grade treads: plywood or pine with rounded edges, nosings trimmed for the carpet, and gaps the carpet hid. Sometimes those treads can be capped with hardwood retreads; sometimes they need full replacement.
The skirt boards and stringer faces are usually rough too, since they were never meant to be seen. Converting to hardwood means refinishing or replacing them along with the risers, so the finished flight reads as one piece of work.
A stair is shaped by the hole in the floor above it. Headroom over the flight has to stay at 6 feet 8 inches minimum, measured vertically from the tread nosings, and the length of the opening decides how steep the flight can be.
In some Tampa homes the original opening is tight, and no design can make the stair both code-compliant and gentler without changing the floor above. When the opening is the constraint, we say so at the measure and price the framing change as its own item.
Handrail height and baluster spacing are set by code, and those numbers shape the design before taste does. Handrails run 34 to 38 inches above the tread nosings, balusters must be spaced so a 4 inch sphere cannot pass between them, and guards along an open side must resist a horizontal load, not just stand there.
A handrail also has to be graspable: a profile your fingers can close around, with clearance from the wall, returned ends so clothing does not catch, and continuity for the full flight. Wide flat rails look good in photos and fail inspection. We fit rails that pass both tests.
A squeak is wood moving against wood or against a nail. The usual causes are a tread rubbing its riser, wedges under the tread that have shrunk loose, or glue blocks that have let go.
Most squeaks can be fixed from underneath with new wedges, blocks and screws, if there is access from below. From above, the fix is careful fastening through the tread into the riser, placed where it will not show. We locate the movement first; a screw into the wrong spot just adds a hole.
A turn is handled one of two ways. A landing breaks the flight and keeps every tread rectangular. Winders taper the treads around the corner to save space, and the usable walking line is measured at a set distance in from the rail, where the tapered treads must stay consistent.
The newel post anchors the whole railing, and its strength comes from being bolted into the stringer or the floor framing below, not from the tread it sits on. A newel fixed only to a tread works loose within a year and takes the railing with it.
Nosing is the front edge of the tread, and its projection past the riser is constrained to roughly three quarters of an inch to an inch and a quarter. That overhang is what your foot reads as tread depth, so it decides how the stair feels on the way down.
Usually yes. What matters is what is under the carpet: sound stringers and square treads convert well, rough builder treads may need replacing. We check before quoting.
Yes, we take commercial as well as residential stair work.
Often. Species and stain can be matched closely; an exact match depends on the age and finish of the existing floor.
A straight flight of a dozen treads is usually two to three days including finishing. Landings, curved work and railing changes add time.
Usually. Squeaks come from movement, and most can be wedged, blocked and screwed from below if there is access. We find the moving joint first.
Call and describe the stair: carpeted or finished, straight or with a turn, and what is bothering you about it. We will come out, check the stringers and price the work in front of us.
Send a photo of the space and the rough dimensions and we will come back with a real number for the work.
(813) 605-1621 2410 E 4th Ave, Tampa, FL 33605
Tampa · Town 'n' Country · Brandon · Riverview · Temple Terrace
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