Exterior stair problems

[lizdion]

The house I'm doing is a few feet off grade and has several porches with stairs to the ground. I have tried defining exterior spaces with invisible walls and selecting "slab" for the room type. If I draw a stair up from the slab to a porch, it goes above the porch and tells me I need more treads to get to what amounts to the 2nd floor. If I draw the stair down (using shift) from the porch to the slab, it buries itself completly underground. I try moving it against the porch, where it stops, but it stays underground.

The only way I have had some success is making a landing on the ground. But then the landing has to be so that the stair just meets the edge and it's a nusance getting the stair adjusted just right between the porch or deck and the landing. Seems like it should be easier. Is this the best way?

Shouldn't stairs recognize slabs and not go through or under them?

v10.06a

Liz