I am adding onto an existing deck and the existing stairs have a curved riser. The person that built the stairs used 1/4″ luan plywood for the riser material which didnt last very long. Do you have any suggestions for material to use for the risers? They want to maintain the cedar look, but it will have a dark stain. The radius varies from 5′ to 24″.
Thanks
Scott
Edited 9/13/2008 6:37 pm ET by ScottyMinn88
Replies
You could try Okume (sp), which looks like mahogany but is made for boat-building. I don't think any laminated product will hold up forever though. You might be better off just planing some solid cedar down to 1/4" or so and using that. I've had good luck laminating cedar with PL Premium for outside use.
Edit to add: Lamininating your own cedar I do recommend, purchasing pre-laminated products is riskier. Either one can fail.
Edited 9/13/2008 6:42 pm ET by Mike_Maines
I have tried planing down cedar and can get it to work fine on the larger radius, but havent had any luck with the 24" radius. I havent planed it that thin yet though, maybe that is the answer.
Cedar is pretty brittle. You might try steam-bending it after it's planed down, or at least soaking it in hot water overnight. PL Premium is moisture-cured so it shouldn't hurt the glue bond any if you want to steam bend it then laminate it.
I will give that a try and let you know how it works out. Thank you for your time.
That's what we're here for.
By the way, welcome to Breaktime. Where are you located? Let me guess-Minnesota?
I'd go with Mike's first suggestion. If you get marine ply, and laminate it with epoxy, you're good for a long time. If you can get 1/8" marine ply, the epoxy will soak in almost 100% of the way, since it's so thin. Then re-coat everything after the rise and run cuts.Some epoxies have been especially formulated to soak in. Rot-repair epoxies, for instance.AitchKay
Thank you for the welcome. I have read the highlights in the magazine, but never had a chance to check out the online forum. I am impressed with the amount of info. I wish I had looked a long time ago. I am going to work on the stair risers tomorrow, wish me luck!
Yes, I am from Minnesota. The Twin Cities metro area. How about yourself? How is business where you are?
Good luck with the risers Scott.
I'm in Maine--our residential design/build firm is fairly busy; last week was the first time in 8 months I could catch my breath but it looks like it should get busy again shortly.
I did a bunch of curved stairs and used Kerfed risers. If you use cedar you shouldn't have any rot concerns, but if you are worried, fill the kerfs with urethane caulk before you bend them. The radius determines how close the kerfs are but you can experiment with that.
Stef
Make your risers in narrow 2 3/4" ( half a 5/4 x 6 decking) vertical pieces attached to a cut from PT curved backed or fix small blocks to the underside and top of the treads where needed. Screws from the back and the fixing will be hidden.
Would exterior grade plywood faced with vertically oriented pieces of cedar T&G or V-rustic do the trick?
>>>The person that built the stairs used 1/4" luan plywood for the riser material which didnt last very long.
Hope I'm not out of line here... but if the builder was "naive" enough to use 1/4" luan for exterior use, you might want to double check the rest of the construction for surprises that you might be held accountable for.
Scott.
Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”
Yeah, ditto post #13. That was my first thought, too.Bill