Stairs! Part II

So as Denise wrote previously, we have been framing a new hole in the second floor.  This hole will eventually contain a staircase, connecting the ground floor with the second.  The problem with cutting a hole in your floor is that you end up with unsupported floor joists.  There are pieces of wood within the floor, running in a linear fashion, that need to be cut through.  Bigger pieces of wood need to support these pieces to be cut.  Gravity loads (you're fat self walking around for example) need to be transfered to the ground through from yourslf through the subfloor, then floor joists, then beams, then walls or columns, and finally the foundation.  Our stair hole is just about done; here are some more pictures of the progress.

Here is a simple image of the stair configuration we hope to achieve.  You will walk down the stairs along the exterior wall and then turn right.  You actually end up walking under the kitchen counter, allowing us to save some valuable square footage.  The landing will extend under the rest of the stair, at the correct height for a desk or other work area.

Continuing the images that Denise posted the other day, here is the hole.  The subfloor was cut out with a circular saw, none of those support pieces of wood have been put in yet.

This past Saturday, we put in the necessary beams and columns to frame out the hole, allowing the floor joists to be cut.  There is one large beam at the top of the 'L', 6x10 PSL.  3 additional medium size pieces, 4x8s frame out

 the rest of the hole.  A wood column is in the corner.  It's temporary, as I'd like to replace it with a more slender steel piece in the future.  This is the almost finished hole.