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 ...

I need to build some custom stairs outdoors. I was thinking of using stone, but I am open to other ideas. I was thinking of using custom iron stairs, but I don't know how to weld or fabricate them.

To lay out a set of stair stringers from scratch requires a little math, but not much. Equally important is some quiet time to run the numbers and at the same time to think about the construction ...