Project Overview & Background
Homeowners often ask whether the risers can simply be taken out of an existing stair to open it up. Almost never. On a conventional stair the risers are structural, tying the stringers together and preventing them from spreading under load. Remove them and the stair racks.
This Beverly Hills remodel achieved the open look properly: we replaced the original cut stringers with a steel spine carrying the treads, so the treads cantilever and no risers are needed. That is a genuine structural rebuild with a permit and an inspection, not a finish upgrade — and it is the honest answer to what "just remove the risers" actually involves.
Structural Challenge:
The stair sits in the middle of the house with no external access, so the steel spine had to be fabricated in three bolted sections small enough to carry through the entry and assemble in place.
Engineered Solution:
Replaced the cut stringers with a bolted three-section steel spine carrying cantilevered oak treads, permitted and inspected as a structural alteration.
Two other contractors said they could just pull the risers out. These were the ones who explained why that would not work.
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