Log Cabin Stairs And Rails
Log Cabin Stairs
Our first idea was to make the steps out of split logs but I quickly decided that would take more skills than I had. Especially when a neighbor mentioned that the building inspector took a measuring tape to make sure each step was exactly the same height on his remodeling job. So I built the stairs from standard lumber and opted to use logs for the railings.
Although split log steps look beautiful if you have a skilled artisan to build them, I was very satisfied with standard stairs and log railings.
Log rails are much more complex than standard lumber rails but the end result was well worth the extra work. I just know we wouldn’t have been satisfied with regular rails.
Make sure you work with your local building inspector so you don’t get any bad surprises at the end of the project. Our inspector was very helpful and made sure we didn’t run into any surprises.
Once the stairs were completed, we found the nice finish on the wood made the steps a bit slick. Rubber soled shoes were fine but regular shoes or stocking feet made the descent a bit hazardous.
We didn’t want to cover the nice wood finish but decided to use carpet rectangles instead. Make sure you get the ones with rubber backings that will grip the floor.
We decided not to nail down the carpet since the rubber backing did a good job of staying in place. And when its time to sweep the stairs, it is easy to pull up the carpet, sweep the steps, and put them back down.
