Renovation 4th Edition

by Michael Litchfield

  zzzzzz Staircase Cutaway

  be possible to repair squeaky stairs with glue and

  a few screws. But if squeaking is widespread,

  stairs tilt to one side, and there’s a gap along a

  stairwell wall, the diagonal supports beneath the

  Skirtboard

  staircase may be failing. In that case, you’ll prob-

  ably need to expose those supports to find out

  what’s going on.

  Tread

  SqueaKY STePS

  Riser

  If the underside of your staircase is covered and

  you have only a few squeaks, try fixing them

  Center carriage

  Railing

  without tearing out finish materials. Many peo-

  Housed stringer

  Baluster

  ple mistakenly attempt to fix squeaks by nailing

  down offending treads with finish nails, but nails

  alone won’t work. The nails may split the nosing,

  and they’ll almost certainly pull loose in time. It’s

  far better to drill pilot holes and countersinks for

  Newel post

  wood screws through the tread into a riser or

  center carriage beneath.

  If stairs can be painted or carpeted, caulk the

  squeaky joint with subflooring adhesive. This

  doesn’t bind the pieces together as well as screws,

  but the adhesive cushions them in effect. Keep

  people off the stairs until the compound has

  cured. If that doesn’t eliminate squeaking, expose

  the underside of the staircase to examine its

  mills can create new balusters to match old ones,

  underpinnings.

  but the process is labor intensive and costly. If

  What you do next depends on the construc-

  you have many damaged or missing balusters

  tion of the stairs. If there are blocks glued along

  and can’t find stock replacements, consider

  the riser–tread joint, it’s likely the glue has failed. replacing all of them with another pattern.

  First, eliminate tread movement by nailing

  If balusters are intact but shaky, remove and

  through the backs of risers into treads: Predrill,

  reglue them; simply nailing them won’t do much

  and use two or three trim-head screws per tread.

  good. To get at balusters, pry free the return

  Then reglue errant blocks with carpenter’s glue

  molding at the end of the tread by inserting a

  or, better yet, with construction adhesive.

  putty knife or small chisel into the nosing seam.

  Once you start prying, you’ll see small finish nails

  rePlaCing baluSTerS

  holding the nosing in place; remove these nails.

  Then gently tap out the bottom of the baluster,

  Broken balusters often can be doweled, glued,

  which is usually joined to the tread by a dovetail

  and filled. But if you’re disappointed with the

  joint or a dowel. The top of the baluster is held in

  repair, see if your lumberyard can order a

  place by fillet strips that fit tightly between balus-

  replacement in the same pattern. Stair parts have ter tops and are toenailed with tiny finish nails to

  been mass-produced for a century or more, so

  the plow (routed channel) in the underside of the

  there are catalogs full of stock balusters. Custom

  railing. Pry out fillets first.

  Structural Carpentry

  205

  The rough cap atop this baluster section of a custom-built This three-piece railing assembly mockup has two skirt

  The doweled end of this square-cut

  staircase will be covered by a three-piece railing assembly. (side) pieces that cover the tops of the balusters and a baluster fits precisely into a hole

  The short fillet strips between the baluster tops can be

  cap. This unusual assembly will create a massive,

  predrilled into a stair tread.

  removed should balusters need replacing later.

  magisterial look.

  To fit the baluster back in place tightly, lightly

  coat both ends with carpenter’s glue and replace

  the tenoned or doweled end first. Replace fillets

  zzzzzz anatomy of a Hollow newel Post

  to space the tops of the balusters evenly. Replace

  Cap

  the return molding and wipe off the excess glue.

  To prevent marring, use a rubber mallet or cush-

  ion hammer blows with scrap wood.

  TigHTening newel POSTS

  If many of the balusters are loose, check the rail-

  Star nut

  ing and the newel post: They may not be firmly

  Washered

  attached. Or if the upper end of the railing dead

  Railing

  nut

  ends into a wall on the floor above, the railing

  may be anchored with a bracket beneath. Make

  sure this bracket is tight.

  If the newel post is shaky, try shimming

  Threaded

  underneath its base or screwing the post down

  rod

  with predrilled 3-in. Torx screws. How you do

  that will depend on how exposed the base of the

  post is. Ideally, drill down at an angle, through

  Hollow

  Plug

  the bottom of the post, through the flooring, into

  newel post

  the framing below. If this doesn’t suffice, see if

  the internal hardware needs tightening. Newel

  Unlike modern newel posts, older ones are often

  posts often are hollow, with a long, threaded rod

  hollow and attach to railings in various ways.

  inside, as shown in “Anatomy of a Hollow Newel

  One common way is a star nut centered in the

  Post” at left. You may be able to tighten the upper

  end of a railing, which is accessed by removing

  end of this rod, concealed by the post cap, by

  a plug on the underside. The bottom of the post

  turning a nut against a restraining plate. Because

  may be screwed to a stringer or held fast by

  you may have difficulty finding the cap joint

  an adjustable rod-and-plate assembly running

  under many years of polish and grime, loosen the

  down the middle of the post.

  206 Chapter 8

  cap by rapping the side of it with a rubber mallet. cating the new tread and testing its fit, apply glue

  The bottom end of the threaded rod often emerg-

  to its edges and to the tops of the carriages on

  es on the underside of the subflooring—if it’s

  which it will sit. To each carriage, screw down

  exposed, have a look.

  the tread with two or three trim-head screws,

  On occasion, newel posts also are connected

  predrilled to prevent splitting and counterbored

  to another plate-and-rod assembly on the inside

  for a plug to hide the screw head. Reinsert and

  of the nearest stair carriage. About the only way

  glue balusters and nosing.

  to get at that assembly (if it exists at all) is to pull

  up the first tread. Where the railing meets the

  Sagging STairS

  newel, the railing is held tight by wood joinery or If the staircase has several of the ailments

  by a double-ended hanger bolt accessible through described in preceding sections, it also may have

  a plug on the underside of the railing.r />
  structural troubles underneath. Investigate fur-

  ther. If the stairs tilt to one side, the carriage on

  rePlaCing STair TreadS

  the low side is having difficulty; that is, nails or

  Treads crack because they aren’t supported ade-

  screws holding it to the wall may be pulling out,

  quately or they weren’t made from good stock. To the wood may be rotting or splitting, or the car-

  replace them, you’ll need to pry or cut them out.

  riage may be pulling free from the stringer.

  Prying is preferable but rarely possible, especially Sagging on the open side of a stairway is com-

  because the treads are usually rabbeted to risers

  mon, for there’s no wall to bolt the carriage to. If

  or housed in stringers.

  there are large cracks or gaps at the top and bot-

  To cut a tread out, start by removing the bal-

  tom of the stairs, you’re seeing symptoms of a

  usters from the open end of the tread. If it is not

  falling carriage.

  possible to pry out the tread in one piece, drill

  To learn more, remove the finish surfaces

  holes across the middle of the tread, and, driving

  from the underside of the staircase. But before

  a chisel parallel to the wood grain, split out the

  cutting into anything, rent a Dumpster for the

  old tread. But try to remove intact the end of the

  rubble and confine the mess by sealing off the

  tread in which the balusters fit so you can reuse

  stairwell with sheet plastic. When you cut, set

  it as a template for the replacement tread. Clean

  your circular saw just to the depth of the finish

  up any old glue or wood fragments. After fabri-

  materials so that you don’t cut into carriages.

  Wear goggles and use a Carborundum® blade to

  cut out the surface in 2-ft. squares.

  You can probably save decorative plaster

  molding along the staircase by cutting parallel to

  it—about 1 in. from its edge, thus isolating the

  section of lath nailed to the underside of the

  outer carriage. Leaving a 1-in. strip will also

  make it easier to disguise the seam when you

  reattach the ornamental border after repairing

  the stairs.

  With the underside of the stairs exposed, you

  should be able to see exactly what the problem is.

  If the carriages have pulled loose from adjacent

  walls, you’ll see a definite gap. Replace wood that

  is rotted or badly cracked, especially wood

  cracked across the grain. If the wood sags or is

  otherwise distorted, bolster it with additional

  lumber; it also may need to be reattached. All of

  these repairs are big ones. To do them right,

  you’ll need complete access to the substructure,

  from one end of the carriages to the other.

  Starting at the top, remove all nosing, balus-

  ters, treads, and risers. You could theoretically

  bolster under-size carriages without removing

  all the treads, risers, and balusters, but it’s better

  With skirt pieces glued and clamped to both sides of the

  to remove them. Otherwise, misaligned or dis-

  rough cap, the finish railing cap is test-fitted.

  torted carriages will be held askew by all the

  Structural Carpentry

  207

  Where a carriage has separated from its

  stringer, clamp the pieces together, and then add

  two 1⁄4-in. lag screws, staggering the pairs of

  zzzzzz bolstering a Center Carriage

  screws every 18 in. along the length of the

  boards. If a carriage has pulled free from a stud

  wall, reattach it with washered lag screws. Where

  a carriage is attached to a masonry wall, drill

  through the carriage into the masonry, using a

  carbide-tipped masonry bit. Slip a lead sleeve

  into the hole and expand the sleeve by tightening

  5/8-in. plywood

  a washered 3⁄8-in. lag screw into it. To forestall

  tread supports screwed

  on alternate sides

  rot, slip a piece of 30-lb. building paper behind

  the carriage before bolting it down.

  Occasionally, stringers or carriages come

  loose at the top and bottom. In a well-built stair-

  case, the upper ends of carriages are nailed to the

  inside of the header above; the lower ends of

  2x6 or 2x8

  those carriages sit on, and are nailed to, the dou-

  center carriage

  bled joists of the rough opening below.

  However, sometimes the lower ends of center

  carriages are mistakenly nailed to the inside of a

  1/4-in.

  RO header; in time the nails pull free and the car-

  steel angle plate

  riages slip down. Jack up the fallen carriages

  3/8-in.

  using a plumbed, adjustable column securely

  carriage bolts

  footed on the floor or atop a 4x8 beam on edge.

  To create a flat jacking surface for the top of the

  column, screw a triangular piece (with the same

  slope as the stairs) to the underside of the car-

  riage. Should old nails resist your effort, cut

  3-in. x 3/8-in.

  through them with a metal-cutting blade in a

  lag screws

  reciprocating saw.

  Jack up the center carriage, and join its lower

  end to the header with steel connectors or 1⁄4-in.

  If the center carriage isn’t notched, it may not support treads well. In this case,

  right-angle mending plates. Secure the plates to

  screw plywood tread supports to alternate sides. Also, if the center carriage was

  the header with 3⁄8-in. lag screws and through the

  only nailed to the face of a header originally, it may have slipped down. If so,

  bottom of the carriage with 1⁄4-in.-dia. carriage

  jack it up and reattach with a 1/4-in. steel angle plate.

  bolts. It’s not usually necessary to use mending

  plates on the upper end of the carriage because

  the lower end is bearing most of the weight.

  pieces nailed to them. So remove the treads and

  Inadequate support for the middle of a stair-

  risers, and jack up the distorted carriages to

  case can lead to split treads or major failures.

  realign them. (You may want to stretch string

  Where a center carriage is not sawtoothed to

  lines as an alignment aid.) Number all parts as

  receive treads (and in some older houses they

  you remove them, grouping pieces according to

  aren’t), add plywood supports beneath each step.

  the step number.

  Cut support blocks from scrap plywood 5⁄8 in.

  thick. Then glue and screw them to alternate

  realigning and

  sides of the carriage—one per tread. If the stair

  reinFOrCing CarriageS

  sags in the middle and has no center carriage,

  If a stringer or carriage has bowed outward, use

  add one.

  a 2x4 jammed against a near wall to push the car-

  You can replace finish surfaces after the car-

  riage back into place. Alternately, use an adjust-

  riages are bolstered and reattached and the stairs
r />   able screw column horizontally to push the car-

  and balusters are reinstalled. Be sure that the

  riage back, but nail the column’s top plates so it

  nailing plane on the underside of the carriages is

  can’t fall. To keep the bowed element in place

  flat, shimming as needed. To reattach plaster lath

  after the pressure is released, add blocking to a

  or drywall, use type W drywall screws (hammer-

  nearby solid framing element.

  ing drywall nails can crack surrounding materials).

  208 Chapter 8

  Shoring

  Shoring temporarily supports loads formerly

  carried by bearing walls while you modify them—

  say, to add a window or a door opening. Typically,

  shoring is installed after removing finish surfaces

  and rerouting pipes and wires but before cutting

  into a bearing wall. if you’re not sure if the wall is

  bearing or whether it can be safely modified, have

  a structural engineer inspect the house and review

  your remodeling plans. This is hard-hat work.

  For first- and second-floor walls, two types of

  shoring are common: screw jacks used with top and

  bottom plates, and temporary stud walls built from

  2x4s. in either case, position shoring back 2 ft. to

  3 ft. from the wall you’re working on so you’ll have

  room to move tools and materials. There are two

  ways to approach it:

   If you’re using screw jacks, doubled 2x6

  top plates will distribute loads better. Here’s how

  to laminate the top plates in place: use two or

  three 16d common nails to nail the upper 2x6

  directly to the ceiling joists, then face-nail the

  second 2x6 to it. ideally, the top plates should

  extend one joist beyond the new opening on both

  sides. don’t overnail; you’re just holding up the

  Screw jacks and a doubled 2x6 top plate pick up loads so a window

  plates until you get jacks underneath. Plumb down

  opening can be safely enlarged. The floor shown is concrete. If

  to mark the location of the single 2x6 sole plate.

  yours is wood, use a 2x6 plate under the jacks as well.

  Place jacks every 4 ft., and plumb them. Tack-nail

  the top of each jack so it can’t drift out of plumb.

  Then raise one jack in tiny increments before

  moving to the next. raise ceiling joists no more

  In the foreground is

  a 2x4 shoring with

  than 1⁄8 in.—just enough to take pressure off the

  a horizontal brace.

  bearing wall.