Picture a stair slope in your mind to estimate about a 40-degree slope and guess at a landing point. Rest any straight piece of deck lumber on the deck and level it over to the landing point. Measure ...

"You can absolutely cut a stair stringer if only you only knew the way the math works," my dad once said to me. So, long before I ever had a geometry class, I knew the math behind determining a slope.

The idea of building stairs, even if it is just a few steps up to a deck or porch, is enough to instill fear in most do-it-yourselfers. There are just so many things that can go wrong. The hard thing ...