Replacing or repairing stair boards?

Question

Our old house has stairs that are cracked. I think they are supported good enough but need the top boards replaced. I just don't know how to do this - what type of things we will need or how can we do this ourselves? Any hints or tips?

Answer 1

All you need is a hammer and a small pry bar. Use the hammer and pry bar to get under the nails and work the boards up. Be careful so that you don't damage any of the other woodwork on your stairs. If the stair board is going to get covered up with carpet then you can use screws to secure the new stair boards to the stairwell. If however the boards are going to be exposed you can do either one of two things. You can either use a ring-shanked finish nail to nail the board in place. Then use a nail punch to punch the nail below the surface. Afterwards use a matching color of wood puddy to fill in the hole. Or the second option would be to drill a recess in the board and screw the board into place then place a wood plug with some wood glue into the recess, place a piece of paperboard on the stair, then use a saw specifically designed for cutting plugs to cut the plug almost flush to the board. The paperboard helps to keep the saw slightly away from your board and from scratching it. Then sandpaper the plug flush to the board.

You will want to make sure that you either used ring shanked nails or screws otherwise your board will work loose over time and your stairs will start to creak. Screws tend to do a better job than ring shanked nails as far as preventing creaking. You could use wood glue to glue the stair board down when nailing it down to help prevent creaking, but if you ever need to pull the board up at some point later on, you'll wish you hadn't glued it down.

Answer 2

a couple of things to add to the previous contributor's advice. check with your local mill work supplier, he may have pre-milled stair tread stock available that has the bull-nose already formed, then all you need to do is cut the pieces to length before installation. old houses are rarely perfect and the stair treads may not be exactly square. if the old treads have a pleasing fit you might want to use them as a template. and finally, check the under side of the old treads. often times stairs are constructed with a dado under the tread to accept the riser. if this is the case, and you don't duplicate that feature, then your treads won't lay flat. you can create the dado (flat bottomed groove across the board) yourself with a router, or ask your mill work provider to incorporate it into the stock that you are going to purchase.

Answer 3

As a carpenter and all around fix it guy, I suggest you call a carpenter. Stairs can be tricky and not good DYI project for beginners. Too many safety issues if done incorrectly.