Hi Larry, Are the treads full depth? That is, 10 or 11 or 12 inches or something or are they narrower boards intended to be installed with a space or gap between them?
Are there risers? You can cheat a little by backing the rear edge of the tread under a riser a little more or less and if the tread boards are gapped again you can add a little spacing here and there and remove a little the eye won't see it. Often spaces are left between tread boards to encourage water to get away more rapidly and it helps to keep the steps from becoming too slippery. Of course if there aren't intended gaps one could rip the treads down to narrower boards then instal them as individual boards. Hope there are some ideas useful to you in there.. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: Larry Stansifer To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 6:57 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] what's up with wood? Hi guys, This afternoon I got a call from a friend who is rebuilding his porch stairs. He has 6 steps going up to a deck height of just over 48". As I patiently explained to him he is absolutely talking to the wrong guy but armed with a talking tape and a leftover 6pack of Christmas ail I attempted to lend a hand. I found out that he had the stringers commercially cut and frankly they looked good. I put a tape on them and found out that the portion that the stair tread was attached to measured anywhere from 10&1/8" to 10&3/4". How can we even up those steps without it looking like */%^? The sides of the treads which are 4' in length are warped in different directions with weird little chips and dents along the edges. He told me the material is redwood and that it is supposed to be the best. The question is does he go with 2x12 and custom fit them, or some other kind of termite magic? I drank two of the Christmas ails and told him to call me when he wanted metal stairs. TNX Larry [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
