A:
I have refaced a number of stair cases with hardwood flooring, including
both treads and risers. All things considered, however, any others I do
will be with the slab treads instead. The price for materials is nearly the
same, but with the slabs, it doesn't look so "busy".
I hope your stair case has boxed in treads, with a stringer on each side,
rather than having spindles on each tread. In that case, you would have to
remove the spindles for sure. And if the stair case is winding, probably
half the treads would have to be custom made.
So, if we are dealing with boxed stairs, you probably have plywood or
construction grade pine treads presently. Yes, the outer edge of the tread
should be cut back flush with the edge of the riser. So, you will take
about 1 1/2" off the outside edge of each tread. You can cut along the edge
of the stringer, at the end of each tread with a hand saw. Then you can
measure back from the edge whatever distance it is, we will say 1 1/2".
Make a straight line from end to end. Now you have a choice of cutting off
the outside edge using a handsaw (painfully slow), a circular saw, jig saw
or reciprocating saw. It may help to have each. The circular saw is fast,
but will only get you to within about 5 inches of the end of the tread. The
rest can be finished with the jig saw or recip. Slabs come in standard
sizes of 9 1/4 or 10 1/4, and pick you length:36", 42", 48".
You can apply a good quality wood/carpenters glue to the existing unfinished
tread, or use a heavy mastic. Bostik's Best is an excellent urethane
adhesive who's bond is described as tenacious. It is a very aggressive
adhesive which I am learning to appreciate. And it never becomes brittle.
Tack a few nails in to hold it and the glue will do the rest.
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