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I am a carpenter working as a handyman/carpenter. Currently I am working on a 100 year old house in MA. I am repairing and will re-finish the main staircase. Many treads have split and I am in a quandary about how to proceed. The easy out is to ignore the splits and squeaks and refinish the stairs. I am not under a tight budget so I could choose to tackle the repair. I can knock out the balusters separate the nosing return then try to re-glue the treads. ( I am imagining a procedure where I leave half of the tread in place attached to the upper riser. Take away the bullnosed half of the tread, clean glue and replace.) I hope that I am being clear so far. I do not want to damage the plaster surface on the underside of the stair, so I cannot get at the problem from below. Who has dealt with this before and what have you done? Thanks greg
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Are you "restoring" this staircase? If not, why not replace the damaged treads with new. you mentioned that you will be refinishing, you could match the wood, sand and blend the new to match the old.
*I always have a tough time visualizing these specific challenges when people post them. But I just want to say that I admire the fact you are looking for opinions about how to do a good job. Way too many times I read questions about how to do something faster, or more profitably. I look forward to the day when more people in our profession take your approach. Thanks for the inspiration.
*I used to have a floor sanding business. With a great deal of effort I could match the shade and color of an old wood patina yet the new wood never truly matched the old. I want to try the repair if I do anything. greg
*Greg,I think I understand. It's an old set of stairs open on one side that have the balusters locked in by the open edge return. I think I would do the repair just as you stated. I'd knock off the return (carefully), remove the baluster, clean off the old glue, probably hide glue if it's that old...(does it look like dried pine sap?) then tackle the tread. If the old glue does look like dried pine sap, it's hide glue. Actually, old hide glue will come back to life with the addition of new warm hide glue. But if you're going to indroduce a different kind of glue, it's best to remove as much of the old hide glue as you possibly can. The old glue crystals don't bond well with new cold glue. Warm water can help remove the old glue.I wouldn't do more than four or five treads at a time so you don't have to take the railing down.One way to clamp the tread is to attach a block with a couple of screw at the back of the tread and then clamp the front from there. You do get two small holes where the block was, but they can be delt with during the re-finishing. Just an idea. Don't clamp too hard, or the front edge will want to rise up because of the angle of the clamp.I'd use the old treads if possible. I wouldn't add new wood unless you just have to. Sounds like fun.Good luck,Ed.
*Ed thank you for the advice. I had not thought about hide glue and have never used it before. Mostly, I wanted to find out if others would say "what are you nuts? You're only going to create headaches by messing with that." Of, course I might still be nuts but that's another matter entirely. Greg
*Greg,You could also try an epoxy, such as WEST Epoxy. If you are working on pine steps there is a red colored filler available that blends in perfectly; if it's oak, there is a tan color that works on that as well. The filler also makes sure you don't starve the glue joint. Hide glue works well and is real strong, but it's not a gap filler so that clamping has to be tight.
*P.S to Greg,Have you identified why the steps split in the first place? If everything has dropped away from the wall you may have to go underneath afterall!
*greg, I may have a few tips on how to fix the steps. But every time I try to write them the computer goes off line before I can finish. My email is [email protected]
*This is what I can see: The treads and risers are butted to the skirtboard and they have not pulled away significantly. There appears to be four stringers (judging from the nail divets. My guess is that the stringers had a higher moisture content when the stairs were built. As the stringers dried the treads were left bearing on the riser below and the riser in back. That is my theory and I'm sticking to it. (unless someone comes up with another theory and sounds real confident about.) Greg
*Greg,If the treads are up off the horses/stringers/carriage/orwhatevertheycallthem, I'm not sure just glueing them back together will solve the problem in the long term. They need to set on something.You may have to open the underside or remove the treads and shim that space back full.Ed.