DEAR TIM: I read your recent column about building stairs for a deck. I can handle that, but I’m worried about how to make all the complex cuts required for the deck stair railing. Can you give me a ...

For ambitious DIYers, deck stairs are a natural next project after building a stylish floating wood deck. Or perhaps your old stairs have worn out from years of exposure to the sun, moisture, and use.

Amateur carpenters who have laid out the cuts in a stair stringer (the zig-zag structural support for the steps) know the queasy feeling that bubbles up at the prospect of this job. There’s the simple ...

Want a better backyard but feel overwhelmed at the idea of major construction? We get it — building a traditional deck can seem expensive, complicated, and downright intimidating. That’s exactly why ...

DEAR TIM: I need to build some simple outdoor steps to replace ones that fell apart and rotted (even though they were made with treated lumber). I’m fairly handy and have a decent grasp of the math ...