code-compliancestairs
I am having my stairs rebuilt and was wondering what the most common stair nosing length is. I have seen code requires nosing overhang be no more than 1.25". Is 1.25" common? Or is 1" more common?
Another question I have is I have seen the most common tread depth is 11". Does that include the nosing overhang?
I would love to hear the tread depth, and nosing length that any builders like to use.
There are 2 ways to do this, the first way is in essence just cutting the wall at the top of the skirt board and capping it off and setting the handrail on top of the cap that is finishing off the cut wall, sounds a bit crude, but essentially that describes what you will have.
The up side to this is you will not need to do a floor repair, depending on where your wall ends where the newel will be.
The other way to do it is by removing the wall entirely, repairing the floor, removing the treads and risers, and set longer ones with return nosings on either side. and re-support the stairs with a new walls under the existing carriages.
This is the most work, but will give the best result in my opinion.
Jan. 2, 2014 edit
Here is the work I did in 1989 that shows what I did.
This one shows the best example of the effect I was trying to explain. I do not have a shot that shows how the handrail goes past the ceiling, but with a little imagination you could picture what the rail would have to do if the stairs were much wider at the bottom.
Edit #2
I did a little calculating to help, if it may
That bit of decorative bullnose on the end is called a 'return'. If you haven't cut up all the treads you can return (no pun intended) some of them and buy treads with them already present. They cost about 4× as much, but you can buy them.
Cheapest thing to do would be to use a router with a bullnose bit on the overhanging edge to create the return.
You can go for using the bullnose from the waste. You've already got the material, and it's certainly going to match what you already have. it will require you to make a small miter cut on the outside edge of the stair, with another crosscut from the back to the endpoint of that miter cut.
Personally? If you haven't got the router, I'd go for buying the return molding on its own. It's only about $5 per 13" piece at the Big Orange Box (i.e. Home Depot) or eBay
Best Answer
I doubt any of us can provide actual statistics. You'll get personal preference and opinion. Mine is to shoot for 1-1/8", knowing that cutting stair stringers takes precision and still results in a bit of variation after all is said and done.
Tread depth does include the nosing. "Run" is the term for each step's dimension from riser to riser. "Rise" is the dimension from tread to tread.