Replacing Stair Treads - tips / advice?

[skhudy]

Hi,

100 year old house - I've a small set of stairs going to my kitchen with 6 treads which are very worn down the middle - I've changed carpet on the rest of the stairs and need to do these.

With them being worn the carpet doesn't sit right on them, they curve in middle slightly (if that makes sence) they are so worn.

I've (finally!) found a place online which sells them. 6 Pine bullnose treads and risers - £90 with delivery (compared to £200 locally!?) this is an o.k price it seems?

Anything I need to watch out for when I change these? I have access to the back in the basement - 65% - 70% humidity here, would I need to coat them with anything?

Many thanks in advance

 

[tony1851]

You may find it very difficult to replace the treads and risers if they have been housed into the strings.

 

[skhudy]

I'm pretty sure they are not (having looked up what you mean by strings!) I'm sure it looked straight forward looking from behind but I can't confirm until later as I'm at work, I'll post a pic when home

 

[skhudy]

Well having looked again, I can see they are housed in the stringers, with triangular wedges against the tread an risers.

I can't see an issue with that, as I have plenty of space at the back were they to come out.

The problem is, that the treads are around 32mm thick. The ones I was about to order are 21mm !

hmmmm any ideas? I' thinking I should just could fix the creaks and put the new treads on top as its being carpetted

 

[big-all]

my answer lifted from the other post

what flooring do you have at the bottom and top??
the trouble with topping is the trip hazard as the top step will be 21mm higher than the surrounding area
and all steps should be identical but the bottom one will be 21mm higher

i completed this exact job last year on a full star 2 kits [left and right]and was lucky they had a thick something like 16-18mm wood floor that worked great as the threshold strips i made for the top only needed to accommodate a few mm difference

 

[skhudy]

its laminate at top going to a threshold strip and the carpet. the bottom has laminate. the top lip (on from the landing) doesn't need anything, its not as badly worn like the 6 steps so no trip hazard!. if I did topping, what glue or filler would you recommend on the worn tread (or would any do), as they'd be a gap with the replacement on top.

 

[big-all]

sit down and draw it
if you intend to finish on a lower tread the last tread will be over an inch deeper so not only a trip hazard it will need to be deeper front to back

 

[big-all]

you need to pad out the risers so they are level with the nosing on the treads or slightly greater
in my case it was 2x12mm mdf strips glued and screwed together then screwed and glued with foaming glue to the riser then the same foaming glue onto the surface

 

[skhudy]

I'm in a split level house with 6 step set of stairs to the kitchen, and I want to do all 6.

The 21mm difference would be from the bottom tread to the floor

Thanks for the replys - a few things to thing about this weekend!

 

[skhudy]

Thanks, I've done the steps now, taken around 7 hours.

As the original 32mm Treads were fixed in the Stringers, I ended up cutting the bullnose of the tread flush with the riser (Which was the most difficult - Nails in the wood, combination of Circular saw, Jig Saw and hand saw) and cutting / Screwing / glueing the new 21mm treads to the old ones.

I had thought I needed to use a floor levelling compound on the steps as the nose was so worn, but after cutting the nose the tread was almost flush

I then followed the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRoCUl4sSDA to fix the squeaking (Which reduced anyway with the new treads fixed) I was lucky I had full access behind the treads in my basement

I used 47x47mm sawn treated timber, as the basements above average humidity, Had to get out the bog standard hard as nails from the gaps I had tried a few months ago which dries and shrinks, I used lumberjacks wood adhesive, great stuff!

Why cut the nose at all as it's hidden by a carpet - Well my stairs I have carpet on the tread round the nose and then laminate on the riser, so not everyone may need to do this. The alternative would be padding out the risers like big-all suggested (thanks) but wouldn't have looked quite right against the low stair skirting

 

[big-all]

you shouldnt remove the nosing as its part off the strength off the stairs
lets hope you used enough adhesive and screws to replace the strength lost

anyway thanks for taking the time to get back to us and let us know how you got on it makes it all worth it