Oak Stair Tread and Riser Attachment

[Joe Markovich]

There are several differing opinions on attaching oak stair treads and oak risers to the stringers. I just finshed removing 2 entire stair assemblies. New stringers have been cut and are back in place. The treads are 5/4 oak and the risers are 3/4 oak. The stairs are 36" in width and each stair case has 3 stringers.

My question is this (2 part);

1 -What size screws or finish nails? I also have an 16ga. air finish nailer.
2 -Is it necessasry to also use adhesive? What adhesive?

[William M Johnson]

Kreg jig and screws works great

[Richard Wolf]

Use PL construction adhesive or sub floor adhesive on all contact points. 16 ga. finish nails will hold things until the adhesive sets.

Richard

[bill mullin]

I use construction adhesive on the stringers and on the top edge of the riser for the treads, and Titebond on the back edge of the tread(where it meets the next riser).
Use air nailer for both riser and tread, but with oak, I pre-drill and use 4 finish hand nails to fasten the riser to the tread from behind.
Hope this is not too confusing.:confused:

[Paul Steiner]

+1 for kreg pocket screws

[bill mullin]

Kreg jig and screws works great

Could you elaborate? Where do you use them?
Thanks.

[William M Johnson]

Use the jig on the stringer. You would be drilling up into the tread. Then run the screw into the tread from underneath. Glue never hurts. This will guarantee that there is not loosening or squeeking on the treads.

I think Kreg has a video showing the procedure.

[Chris Friesen]

I just finished reading a bunch of books on this even though I'm just refacing with cosmetic treads/risers.

All contact between the risers/treads and the stringers gets coated with construction adhesive.

The old-school way of joining the tread/riser involves a horizontal groove at the bottom of the riser, with a rabbetted tongue on the back of the tread that fits into the groove. This would be glued with construction adhesive and screwed from the back of the riser into the tread.

The riser is similarly rabbeted to fit into a groove in the bottom of the tread, and this joint is glued sparingly and reinforced from underneath with pocket screws or glue blocks. The glue blocks can be optionally screwed up into the tread and sometimes sideways into the stringers as well.

If you're looking to save time, you can omit the tongue/groove and just use butt joints instead.