I am doing a first floor remodel for a couple I did work for last year. The first floor is built on a cement slab with a cement stair landing. This couple is kind of “artsy” and they want to buff the cement and seal it to use as a finished floor. For the new stairs leading up to the main level they want a new set of stringers, risers and treads. To tie in the look of the cement floor with the new stairs, they want to use reinforced cement slabs as stair treads. This guy has a factory where they can be fabricated.
Any suggestions on how to attach the slabs onto the stringers? He wants the treads to have an exposed edge so I can’t rout them into the stringer. Maybe an L- bracket from underneath and secure with Tapcons?
Anything you guys (and ladies) can come up with would be greatly appreciated.
Brian…..Bayview Renovation
Replies
Perhaps as the treads are being formed, wood blocks or carriage bolts could be set in the concrete.
Have you thought about having the stringers done in steel?
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
talk to stan, he just did one that housed stone treads.
http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=55647.1&maxT=9
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Cement stair sound dangerous, I hope these people arent that old.
Remember if you go too far into the concrete layer you will start to pick up the rock pattern in the concrete, if confused look over at Chengs website, 'concrete exchange'. at the differences between polished and unpolished.
You seem to be on the right track with attachment, think outside the box, and not with your normal idea of what a stringer should be. You can scab on more wood to the stringer from the back to create attachment blocks, and yes some shape bracket sounds good. Just remember that it will all be covered in the end.
Beef up the stringers, with greater widths, or double the members.
Sounds like some fun people to work for.
-zen
I'm sure the treads being discussed will be adequately reinforced.
You feel OK walking into a concrete parking garage, right? It is all a question of design.
I would bore stopped holes into the bottom of the treads, two or three at each carriage bearing, and epoxy a piece of threaded rod, maybe 3/8 diameter, into each hole. Each stud will stick out about one inch, maybe a little more. An inch and a quarter is sounding better.
Now that I am thinking it through, I would make a plywood template for use in marking both the treads and carriages (stringers) for the bores.
Place a dollop of epoxy into each set of holes in the carriages, set the tread into place, clean up any squeezeout, and voila! Concrete steps.
Cool project. I'm filing this one away in my head.
i've seen alot of em around here factory made... they come with two 3/8" bolts/studs on each end come'n out the btm... which are usually just bolted to steel slotted plates on the steel framework (which doesn't let you see the end of the tread) but if you run the steel under vs on the side you could weld up something that would work... and "add to the character of the stair"
Like ponytl says, there are plenty of precast treads available. Here's the first hit off of Google, which has some drawings you can download to see how they're done.
For the sake of correctness... they're CONCRETE. Cement is an ingredient in concrete.
http://www.centurygrp.com/precast_detail.asp?id=6
Gorilla-glue them to wood rough treads.