"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 ...

Building a set of stairs is a tricky endeavor. Using a pair of brass stair gauges and a builder’s square to mark the stringer (the zigzag boards the steps and risers attach to) can make the job a ...