Stair Treads Help

[Mike Burke]

I am getting back to my stairway project and need some advise on installing the treads.

I am going to put Red Oak treads back on to replace the old ones. There are 16 treads to replace.

#1 Should I buy a stair tread measuring Jig ? or could I make one ?
Suggestions on a which one to buy or what plans for making one ?

#2 How should I fasten the treads down ?
Adhesive , Screw and face plug them. I have some Red Oak Face grain 1/4" plugs.
Adhesive , nail and fill nail holes with wood filler ? I don't have a air nail gun that would drive finish nails so....I would have to
pre drill them and hand nail them. So I would be pounding and might disturb some plaster/lath on the nearby walls.

Suggestions please...Thank you

I am going to put Fabulon clear coat on them for the finish.
Here are a couple photos of my Old stair case.

[Scott Brader]

I made a stair tread jig. I gave it away to a contractor friend after I finished the stairways in our house, so I can't send you a picture of it, but it was super easy to build. There are pictures all over the Internet of suitable jigs. I made mine from scrap 3/4" baltic birch plywood, so it basically cost me four 1/4" carriage bolts, washers and wingnuts.

I fastened my treads and risers with both adhesive and pocket screws drilled in the stringers from below. I don't know if you have access below, but those stairs are never moving. The next homeowner is going to have to pull out everything and rebuild them from scratch if they want to change anything on the stairs!

Scott

[Jim Becker]

If, for some reason, you go with the drill/countersink, screw and plug method, don't use packaged plugs. Make your own from the same stock you are making your treads from and very carefully cut each plug so that you have an almost match for grain at the specific location that the plug needs to go into. While this can take a lot of time, the end result will be worth is as most, if not all of the plugs will be nearly invisible unless one looks carefully. I like and use the Veritas tapered plug cutters

[Mike Burke]

I forgot to say...
I don’t have access under or behind the treads. Only from top side.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I'd build a jig. I'm doing this same project, too, right now, and was amazed how expensive the commercial tread jigs are (for what is really just a couple scraps of ply and a few bolts and nuts).

I've had good luck (in the past) using PL400 subfloor adhesive and finish nails. May be worth buying a cheap 16ga finish nailer for that many treads.

[Ole Anderson]

Build a jig. Here is mine:

I would glue and finish nail after pre-drilling. That is what we did here on stranded bamboo laminate over 2x treads.

[Mike Burke]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I think I can make a measuring jig...looks easy enough.

Would a air nailer work for nailing them ? 15ga 16 ga ?
If I stuck with hand nailing them what size nails should I go with ?
I have seen some "casing" nails that have large head
Would finish nails be good enough ?
Thanks again

[Mike Kees]

If you are using PL400 construction adhesive under these treads then the finish nails are just holding the treads in place until the adhesive cures. If you have never used construction adhesive you need to know the bond is permanent. I would use an air nailer. 16 gauge should be fine unless you want bigger holes to fill at the end of the job. If you do not want to pay much for a nailer check out a couple of pawn shops or rent one for a day.

[Bradley Gray]

Renting tools is an awesome resource. Try it out on something cheap like a nailer

[Peter Kelly]

https://youtu.be/hOcPPO4LRfI?t=296

Scribing treads is also pretty do-able without a jig.

[Dan Friedrichs]

If you don't have a 16ga finish nailer, this would be a good reason to get one. You can buy a reputable brand (Makita, Hitachi) for ~$120, new. 2" nails would be right for these treads, plus it's useful for larger trim (baseboards, crown, etc).

[Ole Anderson]

When I did the stranded bamboo overlay, I used finish nails. My 18 gauge nailer wouldn't consistently penetrate the hard bamboo, 30% of the time they would just crumple. Could have used my 15 gauge nailer, but by predrilling I could get a consistent clean set of the head. If you use a nailer, make sure it had the ability to consistently punch through 3/4" oak.

[John TenEyck]

I may be old school, or maybe just old, but when it really matters I predrill and hand nail. I've seen too many pneumatic nails go sideways, crumple up, or otherwise wreck finish work to trust them. If I did it for a living, sure, but for small projects, no. If you do decide to go the pneumatic nailer route I would go with 16 gage, or even 15. If you hand nail, the nail should penetrate the holding piece of wood at least 1.5X the thickness of the piece being held. So for a 1" tread you'd use a 2-1/2" nail.

John

[Mike Burke]

I am looking at premade unfinished Red oak treads at Menards.
Has anyone had any experience with them ?
Good quality or Not ?
I see some of them are checked on the ends and different color so I am going to pick
through them.
Any thoughts on Menards stair treads ?

[Scott Brader]

I am looking at premade unfinished Red oak treads at Menards.
Has anyone had any experience with them ?
Good quality or Not ?
I see some of them are checked on the ends and different color so I am going to pick
through them.
Any thoughts on Menards stair treads ?

I looked at those when I redid the stairs in my house and couldn't find enough that looked decent. I ended up going to a local lumberyard and bought some very nice stair tread material in 16 foot lengths that I then cut to size as I worked on them. It proved to be a lot less expensive and was better wood. I didn't have any returns to deal with, so it was easy to do it that way.

Scott

[Jim Dwight]

I completely rebuilt a staircase in my house because it had >2 inch difference in the rise between steps. It also had ~14 inch run per step so by dropping back to around 12 inch run I gained enough space to get the rise consistent and closer to 7 inches. Anyway, when I was ready to install pre-finished solid oak treads on my new stringers, I used a combination of construction adhesive and trim screws. You can find them at the big box stores. They make a small hole that I filled with colored wax. The hole is visible but not objectionable, at least to me. I installed screws only where the tread wanted to rock a bit on the stringers. If the tread sat on the stringers well, I just stayed off the staircase until the adhesive set up. The resulting staircase is solid.

I also cut a dado in the bottom of my risers and created a tongue on the back of the treads to fit into the dado. So the back of each tread is dado'd into the riser to help secure it.

With respect to a stair gauge I just measured for each tread. About half of mine are open on one side so they needed to be consistent in length and to be cut at an angle only if the tread wasn't square to the skirt board. My outside stringers are spaced by a flat 2x4 inside the wall studs so the skirt is just nailed up and the tread butted into it. In the closed part of the staircase, the walls were pretty parallel and I just had to cut the treads to length to fit. I would also say, however, that I think one of the reasons skirts and risers are often painted white - as mine are - is because it makes it easy to caulk small gaps. If you are also painting the skirts and risers, you don't need to worry as much about the tread fit to the skirts. As long as you cut reasonably well, any gap will disappear with a little caulk. If you care clear finishing skirts and risers, you will need to be more careful (or do what a previous carpenter did on another of my staircases and put up shoe molding to hid the gaps).

[Ron Citerone]

Guys, I gotta say, this was an awesome thread! I learned so much about a job I would never have attempted, but who knows.

Ron

[Mike Burke]

Well I have bought some unfinished Oak Treads at Menard's
I didn't get all of them just a few to start the project with.
The only way I have to cut them is on my table saw with a incra miter gauge. Although this worked for my risers (3/4" maple )
I don't think its going to work that great for these 1 1/16" oak treads. Just not the way to cut them. To much movement in the slide and just not safe enough for me.

So I got the ok to buy a Sliding miter saw.

Is that the saw I should go with or is there a better option for saws to cut treads ?

[Bradley Gray]

Make a sled for your table saw.

[Mike Burke]

I have a small sled for my table saw but I know that almost every riser I did
had a different angle to cut to get them to fit good.
So I have now way to adjust the angle on my sled. Its good for 90 deg cuts though.

[Bradley Gray]

It is easy to shim the risers in the sled to cut slight angles.

[Bill Jobe]

If not using adhesive is code and not a safety issue, I'd be tempted to use Green glue instead. Might make a slight noise reduction.
Particularly with the wood floors

[Scott Brader]

I used my circular saw with the jig I made for sizing the treads. It worked great.

[Ole Anderson]

.

So I got the ok to buy a Sliding miter saw.

Is that the saw I should go with or is there a better option for saws to cut treads ? Stop right there Mike. You got the OK, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Of course it would be the absolute best way to cut stair treads. Actually it would. A laser blade tell would be helpful too, as long as it is adjusted properly. Every big project deserves a new tool. And if you put about a 1 degree bevel on the blade it will make the fit even better.

[Richard Wolf]

For anyone planning on this type of project, this is an excellent stair jig at a fair price, in case you don't want to make one; https://www.amazon.com/Collins-Tool-Company-Stair-Template/dp/B00CA68KUE/ref=asc_df_B00CA68KUE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167152075853&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9846678181907553237&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009916&hvtargid=pla-314644497749&psc=1

[Terry Wawro]

Coming in a bit late, but since I'm just completed a stair redo, I'll chime in.
I hated the ugly utility / paint grade stairs in our house so I did the following.

I cut the noses off the existing treads with a rough cut from a circular saw, then finished up with a flush cutting router bit. Chisels made quick work of the corners.

Scribed and re-skinned the rough skirt boards with a much nicer 1/4" oak ply. Here is the link to learn how to scribe stair skirts.
https://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2011/04/16/scribing-skirt-boards/#more-8506

Re-skinned the rough dinged ugly risers with the same 1/4 oak ply.

Went over the existing treads with red oak StairTek retreads from Home Depot. I bought the unfinished ones and finished them with Watco natural danish oil and Varathane water based satin poly. To be honest, I'm not thrilled with results. The treads are make from a butcher block mix of different colored oak so each one takes the finish differently giving you a very striped finish. Still, they are WAY better looking than what we had before.

I thought about building a stair gauge but opted to buy a cheap plastic one for only $20. (Stairtek model STTRTO) It was on the shelf at my local Home Depot and it worked well for me.

The skirt boards and risers were glued with cheap Liquid Nails and pinned in place till it set. The treads were glued down with generous beads of PL Premium and held in place with 18ga air nails. (Well, every tread but one. I ran out of PL and used the left over Liquid Nails. Now, guess which is the only tread that squeaks.) Use the good stuff.

420132

I had 15 steps and, with making the skirt covers, riser covers, pre-painting and pre-staining it took me the better part of a week from start to finish (I'm slow) but it looks great now.

[Rich Engelhardt]

For anyone planning on this type of project, this is an excellent stair jig at a fair price, in case you don't want to make one; https://www.amazon.com/Collins-Tool-...44497749&psc=1 (https://www.amazon.com/Collins-Tool-Company-Stair-Template/dp/B00CA68KUE/ref=asc_df_B00CA68KUE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167152075853&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9846678181907553237&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009916&hvtargid=pla-314644497749&psc=1)

I picked up the Stairtek - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Stairtek-5-in-x-12-in-Sturdy-Plastic-Tread-Template-STTRTO/203410479?g_store=3809&mtc=Shopping-B-F_D30-G-D30-30_21_MILLWORK_SPECIALTIES-Generic-NA-Feed-LIA-NA-NA-&cm_mmc=Shopping-B-F_D30-G-D30-30_21_MILLWORK_SPECIALTIES-Generic-NA-Feed-LIA-NA-NA--71700000052659315-58700005045840634-92700044042641020&gclid=CjwKCAiA8ejuBRAaEiwAn-iJ3oGlir_cKglM4W4bXxUPYvq7JCjeMIFMdQsHjEy4NyvuC8tz MKkYNBoC0GsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I had Lowes price match it - from Home Depot - online & had it shipped to store.

I used my track saw to cut the treads. Made it super, super, super easy.

[Mike Burke]

Thanks for all the suggestions
Update on my project
I'm on my way....here are the first two installed. I am not a proffesional and I know I'll make some mistakes but Im learning as I go.

I made a long sled for my table saw to cut the treads...works great and I have dust collection on my table saw. Very accurate !! I also made a measuring jig to get the angles right.

I am using PL Premium and finish screws...some from the back of the riser into the back of the tread and two in each runner.
They are working out pretty good so fare

I didn't like the idea of using a air nailer and taking the chance of one blowing out some place..and I didn't like the idea of hand nailing them and pounding and maybe breaking something else loose.
Figured the finish screws were a Controlled way to fasten them down.

We are putting Golden Oak watco oil on them and then Fabulon Proffesional finish on them
I will just need to fill the holes with color putty when done. Get some different colors and match the color as I go.

Going good so fare 420182

[Joe Rogers]

I bought prefinished treads from stairtreads.com. One came to the house with a split that I couldn’t work around so they shipped a replacement at N.C. Good service. I found that my Hitachi 18 ga. with 2”” brads would consistently sink the brads below the surface with no blow outs or folded brads. Made a tread gage with 1/2” ply and carriage bolts and wing nuts. My son has already asked to use it. I demoed the builder grade treads and used the recommended adhesive specd by the tread supplier. I also did not demo the risers but just painted them with a gloss white wall paint. I have to say that the improvement in appearance over painted treads is striking. Best yet is that SWMBO is thrilled.
Joe