Rantz Phelps
12-25-2015, 10:45 PM
Hey guys!
I've been avoiding finishing our home stair remodel for far too long overall! I could use some advice clearing up a bit of confusion about the behavior of one of my oak treads I made after I installed it.
Short background:
4-5 year old house (our 1st house). Sunny/hot Florida!
Ripped up carpet.
OSB treads underneath
Made Oak Treads from kiln dried red oak. Joined boards together with biscuits for alignment. Treads are actually 3/4" thick so I glued on a thicker portion for the overhang to give it the appearance of 1" thick. Used 1/2" radius roundover to give them a full semicircle profile for the overhang lip. Nailing & gluing them on top of the existing treads.
Making the flooring for the 2 landings out of the same wood to match color and height so there won't be any weird variations.
Stained & finished TOPS ONLY. Left the end grain and the bottom sides unfinished.
Closed sided stairway with skirt boards.
Made the stair tread jig by blazingnailgun on youtube to help me fit the treads and riser faces to fit the irregular angles
Using Liquid Nails "Subfloor" adhesive as it has slightly longer working time and seemed more appropriate. Using 18 gauge nails to face nail just the back edge where the new 1/2" plywood riser faces will cover up the nail holes. I've sat and stood on them for a little bit each time when moving on to the next stair to help them adhere.
Okay now on to my issue/question:
On the most recent tread I've installed, everything was normal and flat at first. However over the course of a few days, I noticed that the height felt a bit off (higher) when coming up the installed stairs below it. Didn't think too much about it as I was busy. Then it felt more. Was I crazy? Then I bounced on the edge once just to feel it out and it moved some. "That shouldn't be happening with the liberal amounts of glue that I used!"
Well looky here! Yeah, that's about a 3/16" of an inch of gap in the center of the tread.
So my question is: Can a liberal amount of Liquid Nails "subfloor" adhesive lathered on the underside of a solid red oak tread introduce enough moisture to cause the bottom to expand and the tread to cup in this way? Or was there something wrong with my treads overall stability?
I'm pretty sure it's the glue, but just want to confirm as this was my first time joining boards together for the treads. The wood has had plenty of time to acclimate to my house as I store the red oak in stacks in the spare bedroom, etc. When the treads weren't being milled or finished, they were in the house to help with stability.
If it was indeed the glue that caused it, can I just put on a thin coat of the Minwax floor poly on the undersides to help repel the moisture longer while the adhesive cures? I don't want to make the mistake of using too little glue and have the treads pop and move in time. I also don't want the coat of poly on the underside to prevent it from having a secure bond. Is that a concern?
What can I do to keep this from happening?
The offending tread is actually still there since I've been too disgusted to address it until now. I'll just carefully cut/scrape/chisel it out of place without damaging the new riser face that's already glued and nailed over it. That way I can just slide the replacement one into place.
It's being weird about me trying to upload pictures.
Thanks guys for your time. I'll follow up probably with a couple more minor planning things.
I've been avoiding finishing our home stair remodel for far too long overall! I could use some advice clearing up a bit of confusion about the behavior of one of my oak treads I made after I installed it.
Short background:
4-5 year old house (our 1st house). Sunny/hot Florida!
Ripped up carpet.
OSB treads underneath
Made Oak Treads from kiln dried red oak. Joined boards together with biscuits for alignment. Treads are actually 3/4" thick so I glued on a thicker portion for the overhang to give it the appearance of 1" thick. Used 1/2" radius roundover to give them a full semicircle profile for the overhang lip. Nailing & gluing them on top of the existing treads.
Making the flooring for the 2 landings out of the same wood to match color and height so there won't be any weird variations.
Stained & finished TOPS ONLY. Left the end grain and the bottom sides unfinished.
Closed sided stairway with skirt boards.
Made the stair tread jig by blazingnailgun on youtube to help me fit the treads and riser faces to fit the irregular angles
Using Liquid Nails "Subfloor" adhesive as it has slightly longer working time and seemed more appropriate. Using 18 gauge nails to face nail just the back edge where the new 1/2" plywood riser faces will cover up the nail holes. I've sat and stood on them for a little bit each time when moving on to the next stair to help them adhere.
Okay now on to my issue/question:
On the most recent tread I've installed, everything was normal and flat at first. However over the course of a few days, I noticed that the height felt a bit off (higher) when coming up the installed stairs below it. Didn't think too much about it as I was busy. Then it felt more. Was I crazy? Then I bounced on the edge once just to feel it out and it moved some. "That shouldn't be happening with the liberal amounts of glue that I used!"
Well looky here! Yeah, that's about a 3/16" of an inch of gap in the center of the tread.
So my question is: Can a liberal amount of Liquid Nails "subfloor" adhesive lathered on the underside of a solid red oak tread introduce enough moisture to cause the bottom to expand and the tread to cup in this way? Or was there something wrong with my treads overall stability?
I'm pretty sure it's the glue, but just want to confirm as this was my first time joining boards together for the treads. The wood has had plenty of time to acclimate to my house as I store the red oak in stacks in the spare bedroom, etc. When the treads weren't being milled or finished, they were in the house to help with stability.
If it was indeed the glue that caused it, can I just put on a thin coat of the Minwax floor poly on the undersides to help repel the moisture longer while the adhesive cures? I don't want to make the mistake of using too little glue and have the treads pop and move in time. I also don't want the coat of poly on the underside to prevent it from having a secure bond. Is that a concern?
What can I do to keep this from happening?
The offending tread is actually still there since I've been too disgusted to address it until now. I'll just carefully cut/scrape/chisel it out of place without damaging the new riser face that's already glued and nailed over it. That way I can just slide the replacement one into place.
It's being weird about me trying to upload pictures.
Thanks guys for your time. I'll follow up probably with a couple more minor planning things.