Sawdust on the Floor

In the last couple of postings I talked about redoing our upstairs hardwood flooring, by removing the carpeting and replacing it with hardwood flooring. The work in the hallway paved the way for the next step in our unexpected and every growing, remodeling job.  Remember we hadn’t planned on doing any of this work.  But thanks to an over energetic grandson, we found ourselves with a badly loosened railing and newel post. That lead to a decision to replace and upgrade the newel post and railing, which lead to the decision to replace the stair treads and risers, which lead to replacing the floor in the hall way upstairs.

So with the flooring done upstairs, it was time to tackle replacing the treads and risers of the stairs. I didn’t want to take the entire stairway out, that was much more work then I was willing to do.  So I devised a way to just replace the risers and treads.  I started out by using a reciprocating saw equipped with a blade designed for destruction to cut out the bottom two risers and treads.  I limited the work to two steps at a time, in case I ran into problems that would preclude me from finishing the project in one day. I have learned from past projects to always keep in mind the idea that something weird or unexpected may happen. While it would be inconvenient, we still could get up and down the stairs if we really had to.

After cutting out the first tread, I found that I had miscalculated.  Man I hate when that happens……..   I had originally figured that the builder had simply used a couple of 2×12’s and site cut the step stringers out of them.  But to my surprise he had actually used a prebuilt staircase. That meant that the treads were mortised into the side stringers of the stairs. Why this surprised me is that there were very few other indications in our entire home that the builder had taken the time or expense to use quality parts or products.  But in fairness to the builder, I did accept the home as he built it.  With this new development, my plans had to be modified again. 

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get the new treads to go into the mortises without tearing the staircase totally out, and it had already been decided that we weren’t going that route.  My original plan called for me to sister ¾ Plywood to both stringers.  The plywood would run from the floor up to the bottom of the  existing treads, and would act as support for the new treads.   The problem with this plan is that if my measurements for the distance from the floor to the bottom of the existing treads were off just a slight amount, the  mortise in the stringer would show, and that just wasn’t acceptable.  My modified plan was actually quite simple, the plywood would be cut 1/8” longer, than the measured distance.  This 1/8” wouldn’t be noticeable when you walk up and down the stairs, and it would ensure that the new treads completely cover the old mortise pockets.

Starting with the first step, I cut the plywood for the left side, and then using construction adhesive and sheetrock screws, I attached it to the left side stringer. Before installing the plywood pieces, I took the time to cut three Pocket screw holes along the front edge of each piece.  These would be used later to attach the risers. When I installed the plywood, I constantly checked that the top of the plywood was 100% flat.  Before I cut the plywood for the right hand side, I used my digital level to make to determine the correct height for that side. I figured that shooting a level line off of the left side plywood would be the best method for finding the correct height for the right side.  Sorry, but I just couldn’t assume that the original treads were level, or that the floor was really level Once I knew that the treads would be level, I took the measurement and cut the plywood for that side. This piece of plywood was also glued and screwed to the existing side stringer.

These pieces of plywood were installed so that the vertical front edge of each would be in line with the back edge of each riser.  I cut the risers from some ¾ oak that I had planned and jointed flat and square in my shop. Maybe because I’m a little anal, or because I was taught never to assume, I took the time to check the vertical angle for both ends of the risers.  I used my digital protractor to verify the angle and then used the same protractor to transfer the angle to my miter saw.  After cutting each riser to their correct length and angle, I pre sanded each riser and then installed then with a combination of construction adhesive and Pocket screws installed from the back side. 

Before I installed the first tread, I removed the second tread and riser. Using the same logic as I did above I cut the plywood for the second step.  The only real difference was that these pieces were longer then the first plywood inserts. After checking the length and angle for the second riser, I cut it from more of the ¾” oak. But before I installed it, I pre drilled 6 holes along the bottom horizontal edge of the riser. I also counter sunk these holes from the back side of the riser. It was then installed along the front edge of the second set of plywood inserts.

With the first and second riser in place, I next installed the first tread.  I used my digital protractor to verify the angle for ends of the thread.  I used a combination of construction adhesive and finish nails shot from my finish pneumatic nail gun to secure the tread to the top of the first riser and the plywood inserts. But before I shot the finish nails, I used square headed decking screws to secure the first tread to the second riser.

The remaining 7 sets of treads and risers were removed, and replaced in the same manner. The only difference in this plan came top of the stairway.  After the final riser was installed, I was left to install the cap.  Or at least that’s what I choose to call it.  The cap piece is made from one of the oak treads I had purchased from one of the local big DIY store. All of the treads were cut to length as required and then ripped down to 9 1/2” wide before being installed. The cap piece was ripped down to 6” wide. This is the distance from the end of the finished upstairs flooring to the nose of the tread. .

Before installing this cap piece, the underside of the cap piece was modified.  A dado was cut so that the top of cap would fit was flat with the top of the finished flooring. When I had installed the flooring in the hall, I purposely stopped the flooring short of the end of the hall by 4 1/2″.  I also made sure that the end of the flooring was square.  The reason I stopped the flooring this far back from the end of the hall is so the cap piece wouldn’t end up as just being the bull nose cap of the treads. I was concerned that a small piece would hard to secure and would soon become loose.  The larger ( 6″) piece would easily overcome these concerns. The cap piece was secured with more finish nails and construction adhesive. When I had done the hallway flooring, I did not install the trim along the floor.  The reason I didn’t was that I wanted the trim work to go over this cap piece also. with the cap installed and the nail gun out, it was a good time to go ahead and install the trim work. Maybe the attached picture will help clear up any misunderstanding of what I’m trying to say here.

Once all of the stair risers and treads were in place, the nail holes were filled.  The entire stair case was then sanded and then cleaned with naphtha to help remove any remaining dirt  the vacuum missed. The naphtha also will help to remove any grease or oils on the wood surface.  We then applied some more of General brand stain we  had used on the kitchen cabinets to these risers and treads. This process took some time, because we still needed access to second floor, so only every other set of treads and risers were stained at a time. After all the stairway had been completely stained and allowed to dry for at least one full week, we applied several coats of polyurethane to the treads and risers. Again because we need access to second floor, we employed the same every other step procedure.

So after a couple of months work we were back where we started.  We now could finally start to work on the railing and newel post. Both the railing and the newel post caused a lot more head scratching before I was able to get them both done.  But in the end both my wife and I were very happy with the results.  Next time we can get started on the railing.  See ya.

For more information on or to purchase any of the products discussed in this post, please click on the highlighted links and images in the post.

Related posts:

1. Woodworking Projects: Rebuilding the Stairway Part II
2. Woodworking Project: Rebuilding the Stairway Part III
3. Woodworking Projects: Bathroom Mirror Part II