# Hanging deck stairs on a cantilever



## drtbk4ever (Dec 29, 2008)

Hey Gang,

Am in the planning stages for my new deck. Check out the this thread to see what happened to the old one.

http://www.diychatroom.com/f49/deck-repair-oops-replace-oops-new-patio-door-thread-48665/

My question is can i attach stairs to the cantilevered portion of the deck without any additional support? Or would I have to add more support under the end joist?

See photo below with red lines indicate where stairs would end up on the left of the photo. The joist cantilever over the beam by about 2 feet.
(Note:Juniper is no longer there, well neither is deck for that matter)


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## Ron6519 (Mar 28, 2007)

I would sink posts where the staircase hit the deck. What's two more holes?
Ron


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## II Weeks (Jan 6, 2009)

+1 with Ron and add double 2X10 rim joist for stairs that wide. dont forget the cement pad for the bottom step

have fun


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

You are going to have steps the entire length of 17' ?
I wouldn't do it, people want a railing to hang out on
My stairs are 4' wide - which is plenty


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## rwa (May 10, 2009)

Scuba got me to thinking ... if you're going to run the stairs the entire distance, why did you bother to cantilever it?


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## drtbk4ever (Dec 29, 2008)

No I am planning on running the stairs about 8 to 12ft of full 17 ft. We are trying to balance the benefits of having a railing versus the clear an unobstructed view from the patio doors (our eating area is just inside those doors). 

I was planning on using the existing footings so that is where the cantilever is coming from. If I decide to dig a few new footings, I could in fact skip the cantilever and would just have to beef up the joists. Hmmm... something to ponder.

Great ideas guys.

Keep them coming.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

I can understand the view thing
Our deck is too far off the ground to do that
Having 8' of steps isn't too bad - about 1/2 the area
2 posts on either side of the 8' steps would do it
And they could be used as the posts for the railings to either side
It looks like only 2 steps down (~17"), is that about right?
My last step was concrete - which supported my stairs
Then the landing is the walkway


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## drtbk4ever (Dec 29, 2008)

Here is a sketch up of our plans.

Any thoughts?


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## PaliBob (Jun 11, 2008)

drtbk4ever said:


> Here is a sketch up of our plans.....


 Nice drawing, Did you use SketchUp?
Don't forget the Handrail for grandpa.
.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

That does look nice
The stairs do tie into the other deck
I'd be inclined to put a square planter in at the angle cut stairs
I just prefer to put in straight stairs


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## drtbk4ever (Dec 29, 2008)

PaliBob said:


> Nice drawing, Did you use SketchUp?
> Don't forget the Handrail for grandpa.
> .


Yes, I used Sketchup. It took me a couple of hours, but I got it done.

You are right, I couldn't figure out how to put on the handrail down the stairs.


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## drtbk4ever (Dec 29, 2008)

Scuba_Dave said:


> That does look nice
> The stairs do tie into the other deck
> I'd be inclined to put a square planter in at the angle cut stairs


Yes, planters are a must as you can see from the photo. 

Another alternative we are thinking about is to skip the diagonal stairs and have a railing on that clipped corner and hand rails down both sets of stairs.

Thanks for all the comments guys.


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