Can't place L-shaped stairs

[Frey]

I have a question about L-shaped staircases:

I'm a decent builder in the game but I don't usually play too much with staircases because I always run out of patience before I actually get to place them where and how I want. But now I'm trying to build L-shaped stairs and it's just impossible! I've followed the tutorial in the guide (http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/buildedit/houses/multilevel/stairs.php) step by step, and I've triple-checked that I have done everything as I should have. I place the 1x1 room and the 1x3 room, the flooring above both ends, I manage to level the terrain, but there's no way I get to place the upper stairs. I get two errors: "blocked by a wall" and "must be on the ground".

Any ideas? Please help 

[donatello]

Stairs are temperamental things. The main fix is to always place the stairs before building walls. Secondly, always place the bottom stairs before the top stairs, as in work your way up. Thirdly, and most importantly for you, the tiles forming the top entrance of one set of stairs and the tiles forming the bottom entrance of the other set of stairs can never ever overlap. It won't allow you. I hate that, but it's how the game limits the staircase functions.
EDIT: My third point is invalid according to the referenced guide. My sincere apologies.

[Frey]

Thanks donatello 

I read in another tutorial that it was better to place the upper stairs first, then work on the upper floors and only then place the lower stairs... but since that's not working I'll try it the other way round.

This is making me wonder why EA decided to make everything so complicated by not allowing foundations to be built directly beside walls (without CFE messing around) - it would make everything so much easier! And they already did it with platforms so I don't see the difference. But oh well, I'll keep struggling with this. I'm building a starter house and it's too small for normal staris, and spiral stairs are way too expensive, so I will have to figure it out somehow  .

Any other suggestions are most welcome!

[Swirl-Girl]

Stacked stairs? Try building the grand staircase on an empty lot, one where you have an unlimited budget with which to mess with, maybe then you can understand your problem.

[Frey]

I actually made it! I have no idea how though. As donatello said... stairs are kind of temperamental. After trying like  a hundred times it just worked. I changed the orientation though so maybe it was because of the orientation of the lot, I have no idea.

Thanks!