Solid maple stair treads - what would you do?

[Clarence Smith]

Hello everyone.

I made some 1" thick solid maple stair treads with a 3/8" round over on the front.

What is the best way to attach them to the stairs? Construction adhesive or expansion slits for the screws?


I have access to the underneath areas and there is an OSB sub-stair assemblies that was under the carpet previously.

Most places say to glue them down with construction adhesive but I'm thinking along the lines of table tops/butcher blocks - where you screw them down but use expansion slits for the screws so the wood can expand/contract. I'd hate to have these move and split on me.

What's your opinion everyone?

Also take into account I live in Canada, so there'll be seasonal changes.

[Jim Neeley]

Clarence,

I live in Anchorage, Alaska and standard (narrow) stairs seem to be glued in place (I don't install stairs professionally so haven't seen hundreds of installs). That said, Anchorage is fairly temperate (-30C to ~26C, -20F to 80F) and have a moderate humidity while places such as Fairbanks have a much wider temperature range (-50C to 35C, -60F to 95F) and wider humidity swings. This may impact your result.

If it was me I'd go for construction adhesive or construction adhesive on ~50% [front or back half] and screws / expansion slits on all of it. Probably overkill but I'm the type who would rather do extra the first time to ensure there's no repeats.

Jim

[Tom Scott]

I just glued mine down and haven't had any issues in the 8 years they've been installed. The treads are only about 12" wide, so won't see a lot of movement.

[J.R. Rutter]

I used silicone adhesive for my jatoba treads 6-7 years ago. I figured it would be more elastic than construction adhesive. They cup slightly in the winter, but no issues with splitting or coming loose.

[Clarence Smith]

Ok, thanks for the input guys.

[Richard Wolf]

Use sub floor adhesive to glue the treads down. The last thing you want are treads moving. Moving equals squeaks and squeaks are annoying. If you can get under the stairs, put a few screws in to pull the treads down tight and don't worry about wood movement.