Evening, all,
My wife and I purchased a mid-1920’s house about a year and a half ago. It’s in very good condition structurally and cosmetically, so we’ve been able to approach projects pretty much at our leisure.
When we moved in, the entire upstairs and stairway was carpeted with old matted-down carpet. Last year I pulled up the carpet and refinished the hardwood floors in the upstairs hall and nursery. They came out great, and I planned to do the stairs, too, but ran into an issue I didn’t know how to handle. It’s nothing major, but DW is wanting them done this summer, so I thought I’d appeal to the board for advice.
As you can see in the photos, at some point in the past the treads have been screwed to the riser with drywall screws, 5 per tread. The heads are countersunk about 1/8″ to 1/4″, and the wood has expanded around the head so that backing the screws out creates “mushrooming” and splinters the tread around the hole as the screws comes out.
What to do? Plans are to stain and finish the steps (white paint on the risers), and then probably install a carpet runner down the center of the stairs. I don’t think the runner will be quite wide enough to cover the holes, and the runner won’t be installed right away due to budgetary constraints. (i.e. it costs money and we don’t have it)
Here are my thoughts:
1. Drill out the holes to a consistent diameter and plug with a matching wood. (Anybody have any guess as to the species?) Not really wanting to do this, but I’m guessing it’s the most “professional” fix?
2. Fill with a putty or wood filler, after stain but before poly. But is there anything that won’t crack/pop? This would be much easier than option #1, but doesn’t seem like a quality choice.
It would have been nice if the guy who did this had at least been consistent with his screw placement (snapped lines from top to bottom and across each tread). But he didn’t, and here we are.
Replacing the treads is not an option.
Thank for any input…
Replies
From the looks of the steps just fill them and paint it all.
There is nothing there of value to stain. Looks like it might be poplar or birch, maybe. At best just fill it and faux finish it to like whatever wood you wish it were.
For no more effort you'll spend more money farting around with it then just redoing it altogether. MHO
Edited 6/23/2006 9:53 pm by jagwah
Jagwah - thanks. What would you recommend for a filler? It needs to be a "hardening" type filler, I think, not one of the putties that stays pliable for weeks or months before hardening, but I'm concerned that a hard filler will crack or pop out. Any thoughts?
If the screws truly have the tread sound, no movement or squeeks, you could use just about any good filler. Ex. birch or poplar Famo Wood or even Bondo, if it's going to paint.
If you ever think you might like to remove the treads in the future use an earth magnet to find the filled spots.
well if ya wanna stain "em". just buy a plug cutter and a counter sink counter bore unit for a few buck's. and plug the screw holes.but pull the screws first before ya redrill the holes
Yeah, I had considered that (option 1), but when backing the screws out, they catch the edge of the hole and lift the wood, splitting and splintering it back up to 2" from the hole. I really don't want to have to glue down a ton of these PITA chips and splinters.I was able to use a utility knife to whittle out the hole on a couple of them, and got the screw out without much damage, but it was very time-consuming and not something I'd look forward to for the 100 or so holes I have to do.Also, plugging and staining means that I have to find wood that matches, preferably in both specie and grain.I'm beginning to think paint sounds like the way to go, but I don't know how DW will feel about it...
well you could get a peice of pipe a little larger than the screw head 1/16th. place it on the step put the driver bit through the pipe and pull the screw no tear out you can tap the pipe litly with a hammer make the plugs a little larger than the pipe
and as for matching the plugs why bother get a total differnt species of wood make em stand out .paint the risers and stringers keep the treads natural ya said ya had lot'a time
ya said ya had lot'a timeWell, yes and no. We have time in that the steps aren't falling apart, so it's not like we have to git 'r done ASAP, but I don't have a lot of time to actually work on them. I'll be taking some vacation the week of July 4th, and probably will plan to work on them then.I had thought of the contrasting wood plugs, and that would probably be the route I'd go IF the guy that installed the screws had done a neat job and lined them up top to bottom and across the treads. In his defense, he was planning to cover with carpet, so it wasn't a big deal to him. But it would have taken all of an extra 5 minutes to lay them out neatly instead of willy-nilly, and would have made my job a lot easier...
Edited 6/23/2006 10:57 pm by torn
well ya could still stain the edges and throw a runner down "em" that's a great 20's look and ya wont slip and fall and have more time off ouch
Sold at Wood Crafters Supply
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Screw extractors. At least it'll cut around the head and prevent the top from chipping out. If you drill all the way you'll have to plug then redrill.
Cool; I've never seen those before. I may look into that.
I fill lot of holes like that doing restorations. go ahead and sand,stain and get a coat or two on the stairs. then take some wood flour and mix it with yellow glue'till its as stiff as you can get it. really dry. then thin it down with some of the settled stain from the bottom of the stain can. scrape the pigment up with a screwdriver. make it slightly darker wet than the color you're trying to get. if you need to, to get it workable, add a few drops of the liquid.fill the holes, don't worry about any smear on the surface you've got a final screening and last cout to go. Jim Devier
Thanks, Jim. You've never had any problems with popping/cracking/shrinkage? (in relation to filling holes in stair treads anyway ;-)
It stays in the holes good. have'nt had problems with it popping out if the board and screw are not moving separatly. leave the filler slightly higher than the surrounding surface, it will shrink slightly till the glue is set-no more. thats the neat thing about this mix,already the right color,sets fast sandable, and takes finish well. Jim Devier
I vote with Jim. That's what I would do (though probably not as well!)
Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.