DIY Stair Slide: How to Add a Slide to Your Stairs

Can I put a slide on my stairs? Yes! We’ll show you how to build a sturdy DIY stair slide for kids that’s easily removable when needed. Follow this tutorial to upgrade your stairs to the fun center of your home, or the perfect entrance to a basement play room or rec room.

You’ll also love this DIY indoor treehouse with slide, our bunkbed playhouse IKEA hack, building a playhouse under the stairs, plus how to build and hang and indoor swing.

DIY Stair Slide

If you’re looking to update your stairs, there are many ways you can do that: take up the carpet, install a carpeted stair runner, paint, restain, replace the railing, build a new banister/newel post, add fabric to the risers, plus more ideas here.

But if you’re looking to make your stairs FUN for the kids (or kids at heart) — here’s how to add a slide to your stairs!

Erin shared this DIY stair slide tutorial with us back in 2016 – long before the quarantine of 2020 created a rush of parents needing to find ways to keep their kids entertained indoors. Thankfully, this OG stair slide is a weekend project that creates a fun activity kids will love in any season. Just add some pillows or cushions at the bottom and let them explore the forces of nature!

This DIY wood stair slide is quite the upgrade from the sleeping bag (or laundry basket) of my childhood, or the cardboard slides we’ve built after moving or getting a large furniture delivery. This wood DIY stair slide will last for years of enjoyment and is easily removed when needed for high adventure with low impact on the house.

This post contains affiliate links. Learn more and read our full disclosure policy here.

Get the DIY stair slide tutorial below from Erin, or if you’re interested in a stair slide that ships right to your door, you can purchase a premade plastic stair slide on Amazon or at the official StairSlide website, as well as from Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart, and even eBay.

DIY Stair Slide: How to Add a Slide to Stairs

by Erin of Décor Allure

Safety and Liability: Please remember, this blog is for entertainment purposes only. As with ALL of our DIY projects and tutorials, be certain to read over the complete tutorial before starting a project. Build at your own risk and be smart, be safe in both building and playing. Neither Remodelaholic nor Decor Allure will be responsible for any injury or damage incurred while following a tutorial from our site or from using the resulting project. None of our posts should be considered expert advice; please consult a professional when needed, read all safety and instruction manuals, and take all safety precautions. All projects performed following instructions found on this site are done at your own risk.

Hello, DIYers! My name is Erin from Décor Allure. I’m a full-time mom of six kids, active in my church’s women’s group, avid decorator and world’s worst blogger (I really just do it to share our projects with friends, family and any curious diy-ers like us.) My amazing and handy engineer husband loves to help me find ways to make our home beautiful, but totally unique.

One of the fun projects we did together in our last house in Chicago, was finishing our basement (with a crazy tube slide) We also recently finished off an attic space in our current Houston home that includes a two-story climbing passage. We also added a built-in bench in our eating nook that I’ve always wanted to do on one of our homes and this one was the perfect set up for one!

Today, I want to share how we added a slide to our stairs (since everyone was so sad to leave the slide in our last house!) It was actually a pretty easy project. We dreamed up all kinds of different ways we could do it, but ended up with just doing a fairly simple, but sturdy design made from wood and a few metal brackets.

DIY Stair Slide Design

Stair Width & Length

Our stairs are 49″ wide, which is wider than usual – standard modern stairs are 36″ wide. This meant we knew we had room to add the slide and still have room to walk up and down the stairs. The DIY stair slide is 18″ wide to fit kids and adults, and there is still 27″ of walking space next to the slide on the handrail side!

We also chose to end our slide at the last step rather than continue it all the way to the floor. This allows for easy-off at the bottom of the slide, and keeps the landing clear to prevent slipping. (If you look at playground slides, they don’t continue all the way to the ground either.)

Stair End Wall

Our stairs have a generous 5 feet of space between the bottom of the stairs and the wall/corner in front of the stairs. This gives a wide landing spot for the stairs so the kids don’t run directly into the wall. (There is more space than the pictures below show.)

DIY Stair Slide Portability and Removal

In our design, we wanted the DIY stair slide to be easily removable for when we needed to move furniture or other tasks that require the full width of the stairs. Our wooden stair slide can be removed in just a few seconds, and replaced just as easily.

We also wanted to cause minimal damage to the walls so it’s easy to repair when the kids are bigger and done with the slide and we remove it. There are only four screw holes in the wall that will need patched!

DIY Stair Slide Materials & Tools

To build your own DIY stair slide, you’ll need:

• 3/4″ plywood – one 4′ x 8′ sheet is enough for a slide up to about 15 feet (depending on where you join the two pieces)
• low-profile wood handrail or other piece of smooth wood to form the slide edge
• long mending brackets – to attach the two pieces of plywood together for a smooth slide surface
• large flush mount brackets – to attach the slide to the wall
• paint – a bare wood slide is FAST so paint slows it down to a safer speed
• circular saw – to cut the plywood and handrail to size
• drill – to attach everything

Step by Step: DIY Stair Slide Tutorial

Step 1: Cut plywood to length

After we decided on a width of 18″ for our slide, we cut 3/4″ sanded plywood into 2 lengths. We needed almost 9 feet in length to cover our entire staircase of 9 stairs. Plywood is only 8 feet long, so ours required a seam.

Step 2: Attach plywood to form slide

We attached the two lengths with 3 long metal mending plates. We placed the seam between two stairs, about a 1/4 of the way down, so that the plates didn’t make the slide sit up on the stair edges – you want all of the slide bottom surface to sit flush on the stair edges to give it support all the way down the steps.

If you wanted to build an even longer slide, you could also consider using flush mount brackets (like we used to attach the slide to the wall) to attach 2 sections of the slide together for easier storage when the slide isn’t in use.

Step 3: Sand smooth

We sanded the seam smooth, and also the beginning and end edges to get rid of any sharp edges (it also makes it lower-profile to prevent tripping.)  The triangular supports were also sanded smooth so it didn’t cut into the carpet much.

Step 4: Attach slide supports

We cut triangular supports to the depth and height of our stairs and attached in four places on each side by screws from the top and L brackets underneath. We chose to place the triangle supports at the top and bottom, then as equally spaced between as possible. This left us with a 2-stair gap between supports in the middle – since the weight is all resting on the edges of the steps, the slide feels very sturdy even for adults.

Step 5: Attach slide rail

From underneath, we screwed on a low-profile handrail (similar to this) directly on the top of the right side of the slide, opposite the wall attachments.

Step 6: Attach wall mount brackets

We attached flush mounting brackets (we got larger ones from Rockler Woodworking) on the wall and the triangular supports. We ended up only using two sets of brackets to make it easier to align when taking on and off. They’re really only needed to assure that the slide doesn’t move forward as the kids go down (all the weight is on the stair edges and the supports.)

These mounting brackets allow for the slide to be right up to the wall, not leaving a gap where little fingers could be caught. These Rockler adjustable flush mount brackets also allow for a little bit of wiggle room (1/4″) on installation, which is nice!

Step 7: Paint the stair slide

Finally, we painted with a good enamel paint (I used Sherwin Williams) in a gloss finish and white to match our home’s molding. The slide was super fast without the paint, so I’m glad the paint slowed it down. I still insist on a cushion at the bottom.

Step 8: Install stair slide

To install the slide, have 2 people to slide the top and bottom brackets into each other at the same time. Add some blankets or cushions at the bottom, and you’re ready to slide!

It is an absolute hit with both the kids and the adults! We’re so glad we did it! Thanks for letting us share it with you!

—————————————–

Erin, this is such a blast! Thank you so much for sharing! So much better and safer than a cardboard box or mattresses!

Remodelaholics, Erin might call herself the world’s worst blogger, but I guarantee you are going to want to check out her stuff at Decor Allure! Amazing projects, like her previous basement remodel with the other hidden slide she mentioned, plus this cool built-in bookshelf and a swing! And this attic playroom which has a climbing platform tower to get to it — enclosed in an empty wall in the entryway. Seriously so cool!

DIY Stair Slide FAQs

Can I put a slide on my stairs?

Yes! Erin shows how to build your own wooden DIY stair slide above, and most stairs can fit a slide. To add a slide to your stairs, you’ll want your stairs to be at least 36″ wide (18″ wide slide leaves 18″ walking space) and wider is better. You’ll also want to ensure that there is adequate space at the bottom to safely slide without running into a wall.

Erin’s DIY stair slide is 9 feet long on a shorter staircase, but the steps above can be used to make a longer slide on a full staircase of up to 16 feet (around 15 steps).

How much does it cost to build a slide in your house?

Costs will vary depending on material costs, but you can build your own DIY stair slide for around $100 in materials, in most cases. Compared to the original Stairslide which starts at around $150 for just 2 sections and can cost closer to $500 for longer stairs, that’s a steal! You could build a cardboard slide for free if you have moving boxes, but this wooden slide will last way longer and doesn’t take much more time.

Should I build my own stair slide or is Stairslide worth it?

Both can be good options depending on your needs and your budget.

Building your own stair slide is less expensive and it’s a pretty easy DIY project to create a semi-permanent (but removable) wooden slide for your stairs. Storing the slide is a little bit trickier since it’s all in one long piece.

The Stairslide, on the other hand, is meant to be quickly and easily removed repeatedly for quick play and quick storage, and each section stacks for easier storage. If that’s important to you, then the Stairslide is probably worth the extra cost.

More fun play room ideas

See more fun basement rec room and play room ideas here — and consider adding these other kid-fun features to your home too… they’re only little for a little while, so make it FUN!

Pin this to share and save for later!

First published 20 Feb 2016 // Last updated 19 March 2024