Submitted by unhappyoptimist_ t3_11whnzq in DIY
One of my steps broke so I'll need to replace it. The house is over 100 years old so I'm wondering if I should replace all of the stair treads. Is it a good idea or necessary to replace old stairs or can I just replace the one without worrying the others will break?
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In fact a 100 year old house likely has some choice lumber in its stair treads. A century ago we were still tearing through old growth forests and the lumber in old houses is tighter grained than anything you even CAN buy today. There’s a reason why recovered lumber is so prized, and it’s not because it looks all “old timey.”
If OP does replace all the treads, I hope the old ones go to a woodworker somewhere. Shit I’d be happy to have them.
I would definitely prefer to keep the other treads and they seem to be in good shape so that's the plan 🙂
If you wanted to, you could keep the broken tread as well. Carefully remove the whole tread, clamp the pieces together, drill some 1/4" holes in perpendicular to break. Unclamp, add glue, clamp, tap in some dowels and allow to dry. Just cut/sand down the dowels and reinstall. It will never look perfect, but it will probably look better than any other attempt to replace that tread.
Good luck!
did not suggest a repair as that is a little more difficult to do well, however In fact a repair to the broken tread is almost certainly quite easy. There is no need or significant benefit to adding dowels and they add a significant degree of complexity, if the tread has broken as cleanly as it looks a simple glue joint is likely to hold for another 100 years or more, though you will have to make sure the tread makes full contact with the stringers and upright.
Good call. I like to overengineer things. Plus then you can point to the dowels and say "look, that's where I fixed it" and people will be impressed.
That is certainly one way of doing things, though in my opinion the people who get impressed are those who don’t understand what is involved so I probably don’t want to impress them.
When I do a repair my aim is usually to completely hide that anything has been done. So in this case a simple glue joint is likely sufficient, however if I wanted belt and braces I would add a floating tenon or 2 (still invisible), but of course after the joint has set you can easily drill a few holes for dowels, that they are redundant for the joint strength though of course doesn’t matter as you can use wood for the dowels that doesn’t completely match the stair tread for added emphasis ;) .
As to over engineering it is certainly better than having items fail, so I usually ere on the side of “too much is only just enough”
If you have a middle stringer I personally wouldn't worry about it, if it doesn't have a middle stringer than I would put one in
Based on what?
Personal experience
Those closed risers should resolve the span of the treads. Unless the stringer on the open balustrade side of the stair has unacceptable deflection there is no reason for replacement.
Floor Refinisher here that has experience refinishing stairs.
Id say assess all of the other treads for signs of instability like splits or creeks. If nothing stands out then you I would say those steps are in good shape.
From what I can tell from the pictures you showed, it seems like you have either quarter or rift sawn oak treads. If you could upload a top view picture of the grain I could confirm whether it is. If it is, that combined with the potential age of the steps makes those treads priceless. Of all the floors I’ve seen out there, I think there really is no prettier grain than quarter sawn oak. I would absolutely preserve them if you can.
As some one who has refinished many staircases, I will tell you that those stairs are an excellent candidate for refinishing, and if you’re looking to DIY the job, that stair case is about as easy as it gets for stairs (floating railing and no wall strings makes it very easy to sand the treads with the edger and makes it much easier to throughly scrape the bullnoses.)
I would consider stripping the varnish on the risers and painting them white and perhaps add a wall stringer for a more finished look. That combined with a natural finish on the treads and a repainted railing and you have a gorgeous and timeless staircase
The top tread looks different and does not line up with the flooring, it looks like there had been something glued on top of it. The rest of the treads do creak a bit but are stable and I honestly like the mild creakiness of the stairs.
I am 99% certain that is rift sawn white oak. I can tell it is rift sawn as opposed to quarter sawn because I don’t see any of the “rays” that are typically present in a quarter sawn oak. I believe it’s white oak because the yellowness indicates such where as red oak is more white but with red/pinkish grain hence the name. There are testing kits that use wood shavings to test exactly what species of wood grain it is.
We’ve had our fair share of white oak floor repairs and one thing I will say is that because of the age of the treads, getting an exact match, colorwise, won’t be possible because of the difference between old growth and new growth and the aging your treads were subject to. For the most part the difference in color should be subtle but could be noticeable.
If you do go ahead and refinish these steps, you could test the color matching by getting a sample quarter sawn plank, put a coat of poly on it, then sand a spot on the steps (ideally where the finished has mostly worn off so it’s easy to sand), coat with poly and compare the colors. If the color is close enough and doesn’t bother your then go ahead and replace the tread. If it stands out and bothers you(which I totally understand), I’d maybe consider doing a glue and epoxy repair if the split in the tread is clean enough for you to get a tight and sturdy fit with glue.
I do see what you mean with the top tread. Looking at the wear on the lower stairs it looks like there was a was a runner on the steps and it must’ve been glued down at the top. Lucky for you, a good sanding with 40 or 50 grit will clean those steps up real nice and the color of all of them should be consistent.
Creaking can easily be fixed with wedges and epoxy.
Creaking of the stairs indicates that they have loosened over time, and that unusual stresses are being given. That is almost certainly why you had a failure. Fix them so they don’t create and they will be OK for another century
Do I just renail the treads into the stringers to fix the creaking?
That is a difficult question to answer. The first thing is to throughly inspect the places where the wood is moving.
It looks as if you may have access to the underside of the stairs, if you do then you will be able to tap the wedges in as they are probably why you have movement. The stairs are cheaply finished as shown by the bandsaw marks still showing on all the treads and risers. While not proof that the original makers skipped steps in production, it certainly makes it a significant possibility. This can be both good and not so great, the good point is that tightening the treads up may be easy, the not great point is that they may have used nails to avoid the time to make and fit the staircase properly.
TLDR just renailing will work for a short time it is a bodge specially if you don’t use cut nails.
Thanks for you help!
It depends upon the condition of the remaining treads. If they flex when you step on them, it is probably time to replace them.
Need more details & pictures.
Added pics
Thanks for pics. No, I wouldn't replace the remaining ones; they appear to be in good shape. Even this one might be repairable with gluing it back together if your glue game is good. It's just the nosing broke off along the grain.
But, it also looks like it's easy enough to get the old tread off and replace it with a new one of the same thickness. If the thickness isn't the same, then it will be a forever trip hazard.
Thanks!
How did it break?
I was walking down the stairs and it just snapped off
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For the price and the effort, do them all Same as the car dash, if you take the effort to take it off, for a burnt out light, just replace them all. The others are just as old and will have wear and tear too.
It's impossible to give an informed opinion without seeing them. If you can afford replacing them all that's probably what I would do.
If one went the others might not be far behind.
Added pics
UKthailandExpat t1_jcyjyts wrote
There is absolutely no reason to replace treads because of age, wood doesn’t change significantly just because of age. The way the wood has been cut (ie grain direction) is likely the cause of the failure.
However I would carefully inspect the complete staircase to ensure that it is sound, I would fix any treads or risers that show movement.
Remember new does not equal good.