Extra Wide and Deep Deck Stairs

by James Pace
(Elkins, WV)

The stairs we currently have on our log home deck are 48" wide, but we are replacing them with ones that will completely fill in the space between the vertical log porch roof support "beams" - which will bring them to 84" in width. This is no problem. We love the extra deep stairs and have opted for 16" treads. This is probably the 3rd or 4th set of stairs I have built in my lifetime, but these are the most deep to date. I am using the tread angle brackets for the outside stringers, but for the inside cut stringers to remain strong, would a 2x20 be sufficient? Landing, support posts, railing, etc everything else is covered, but the stringer boards are my real concern. Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!