I would appreciate a recommendation for wood step treads for interior use that will get a painted finish. Would poplar be strong enough for a 36″ span? Thank you.
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standard is yellow pine or oak..11/8 thick. You can use polar but keep the thickness
A 36" SPAN, or a 36" wide stairway with three stringers?
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
36" span (tread length)
36" span (tread length)
Then , the answer is NO.
Wouldn't that depend on the thickness of the tread?
first response was if it is standard 1 and 1/8..based on that, yes it is, no...3 stringers is ok, but not spanning 36"
Edited 1/23/2004 8:49:26 PM ET by SPHERE
Edited 1/23/2004 8:49:51 PM ET by SPHERE
I would think that it would depend on whether the treads were supported by the risers. If I lean back in this chair, I can see the underside of my main stairway which is as solid as the day it was made 20 years ago. It has 5/4 oak treads and birch ply risers which support the front of the tread above and the rear of the tread below. It has only the stringers on the wall and is 36" wide. On most jobs we use three stringers but they support miscellaneous rough treads with no risers until the finish stairs are ready to be built. The third stringer also makes it slightly easier to finish the underside of the stairs where this is needed. (Obviously not in this carpenter's home. But then much else is unfinished as well so it fits in here.)
Yeah but..in your case (oak) the dado that the treads are wedged in (a commn way to assemble stairs) and the wedges, are holding and Oak tread..oak has a higher compression limit then Poplar..the poplar MAY be too soft for the application where it is wedged in the carriages, and the flexing of traffic would loosen the joint over time, meaning the wedges would have to be tightened more often or a squeaky stair is had.
Poplar is also a bit soft for a painted tread, unlike a floor ALL the footsteps land in the same area time and again..oak or yellowpine is still a better choice for that reason as well.