Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Feb 19, 2000 05:55pm | #1

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   Mitch, What part of the country are you in? If you are near a fairly large city you should be able to find help in you yellow pages under "stair parts" or "stair companies". There is a plethora of national co. that market stair parts. I recommend a profesional stairman, its what your eyeball first makes contact with in the entyway, it might cost extra but will be well worth it.

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   Rick_O | Feb 19, 2000 07:12pm | #2

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   Mitch, I recently renovated my house and installed prefinsished oak hardwood in the living room and hallway. I couldn't find oak stair treads with the same finish as my flooring so I put hardwood flooring on the stairs. It is he same as laying the floor except use lots of glue and a finish nailer. I used 1/4" oak ply to cover the stringer and the risers and my router to bullnose the nosing and ends of the treads. Use a high grade varathane to finish the cut edges. Either miter the join between the riser and stringer or use an outside corner moulding to cover. If you are concerned with seeing the underside of the harwood use a scotia mould to hide the grooves.

3. 
   Guest_ | Feb 20, 2000 03:30am | #3

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   Mitch:

   If you can't find or use solid treads and risers, I made a similiar response over at floorboards.com a few weeks ago. Best of luck!

1. 
   Guest_ | Feb 20, 2000 07:55am | #4

   *Mitch, Locating information for assembling stairs of any type is as close as your local library and/or lumber store. Finehomebuilding has printed numerous informative articles. There are many companies that supply stair parts on a national basis. LJ Smith prints a guide to ordering and installing parts available thru their company. If you are not interested in oak or poplar stairs you will probably need to find a local milling company to provide you with parts. Poplar parts are not as durable as oak or other hardwoods. I always use oversize newels when contructing poplar stairs. It pays to spend extra time building stairs- use screws instead of nails, plenty of glue (construction adhesive works best),sharp saws and chisels. Make sketches and drawings of your stairs to help you understand how they will go together.

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   Guest_ | Feb 23, 2000 06:51am | #5

   *Mitch,If you're good with furniture you can build stairs. Get "Basic Stairbuilding" by Scott Shuttner from the Taunton Press. I followed his methods for the first stairway I built and it looks like a piece of fine furniture. Make your own treads. For the stairs I'm building now, I have an 11-1/4" run and "store-bought" will only give you 10". I'm dowling/gluing up 1x6's to 1-1/8 nosing to get the width and it's less $ also. Use lots of construction adhesive, shims and screws. DH

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   Paul_Gerbec | Feb 23, 2000 08:49am | #6

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   Mitch,

   I am a homeowner and installed an ash and oak staircase as part of a remodel of my last home. I agree with your two previous respondees. The Taunton book is a good one. I believe they also have it in video form. If you can access the area under your stairs, you can attach the risers to the treads from behind with glue and screws. I used trim screws when attaching the treads to the stringers from the top. They have smaller heads and don't need as much filling. Good luck and have fun. I'm sure a professional could have taken issue with some of my techniques. But nobody who saw the finished staircase had anything but good to say about it. That includes the all the realtors and an inspector who went through it when we sold. And, more satisfying than the cost savings, is the pride in knowing you did it yourself.

5. 
   Mitch_Constant | Feb 25, 2000 01:27pm | #7

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   I'm an owner-builder and would prefer hardwood stairs on my entry way staircase, rather than carpet. We can't seem to find any info. on building hardwood stairs.

   I am seeking advice on construction and preferred products.

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   Guest_ | Feb 25, 2000 01:27pm | #8

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   Mitch, Shuttners book is quite good. You might check out Best of Fine Homebuilding, Stairs. This book gives a good cross section of a lot of different applications.

   One of the best articles I've run across is found in Fine Woodworking #30 Sept./Oct. l98l. If you could get ahold of this copy, the article by Harry Waldemar is great.

   Another book, Stair Layout, by Stanley Badzinski,Jr. has a lot of helpful formulas.

   Here in Michigan, we have a hardwood lumberyard that sells stair treads in a variety of widths and lengths. They also UPS anywhere. L.L. Johnson Lbr., 800-292-5937.

   Finally, I'd use hardwood any day over carpet!