Practical Stair Building and Handrailing / By the square section and falling line system.

Transcriber’s Note
PRACTICAL STAIR BUILDING AND HANDRAILING BY THE SQUARE SECTION AND FALLING LINE SYSTEM
BY W. H. WOOD
London: E. & F. N. SPON, 125 STRAND
New York: SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, 12 CORTLANDT STREET 1894
The following book has been written to assist those who wish to acquire a knowledge of the most practical and systematic methods adopted in the execution of stair building and handrailing.
In compiling this work the author has kept steadily in view the absolute necessity of treating most fully the elementary parts. Therefore, if to some the details should appear tedious, he begs to say they have been written to assist those who, being unable to obtain a correct knowledge of the methods adopted, seldom advance beyond a certain and very unsatisfactory stage.
The plates on stairs will be found to contain much useful and valuable information, all of which the author has practically tested, some of them many times over, and can therefore vouch for the accuracy of the various methods shown.
The system of handrailing is somewhat new, but the author has continually put it to practical test for the last five years, and he is convinced that it is only required to be known to be appreciated.
W. H. WOOD.
Stairs are a succession of steps leading from one landing to another in a building. Each step comprises tread and riser, the tread being horizontal and the riser vertical. The side pieces supporting the ends of steps are called strings: that next to the wall, the wall string; the other, the front, outside, well, cut, open, or close string. When the steps are narrower one end than the other they are called winders. The landing is a platform between the floors, and it is sometimes arranged to give access to a door. A succession of steps between each landing is called a flight. It is not often that the stair builder is called upon to say how and where the stairs are to go, that being the work of the architect; but the former must do his best to carry out the wishes of the latter, who will leave to him the placing of risers, and all details necessarily belonging to the stair builder, who will make the best possible job, having all easings and falling lines as graceful as it is possible to make them. An easing that is too long is almost as objectionable as one that is too short.