Using hardwood plywood for stair treads

Started by wibekkah, October 30, 2007, 08:28:25 PM

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wibekkah

Hi,

We are, finally, at the point where we should put in our staircase.  We don't have the money or the skill to put in a super nice hardwood staircase but I absolutely can't stand carpeting on stairs.  I am thinking of using hardwood plywood for the treads and risers; round the edges of the treads with a router.  Is there any reason this won't work?  I have done a bit of searching on the internet for anyone who has done this and I can't find anything.

Alternatively we are thinking of using regular pine boards or, if we can find it, 1 1/4 pine shelving we once bought.  It had one rounded side and was very sturdy.

John_M

I just used pine stair treads.  They are not that expensive (I would think cheaper than hardwood plywood).

Most lumber yards sell them!
...life is short...enjoy the ride!!


MountainDon

Quote...hardwood plywood for the treads.... I have done a bit of searching on the internet for anyone who has done this and I can't find anything.
Probably for good reason. My thoughts:

The finish face veneer is quite thin. If it didn't wear through someplace I'd be surprised, no matter what kind of finish you used, IMO. If you drop something hard/sharp, well there goes the hardwood look. If you nicely rounded the nose of the stairtread as you propose you'll more than likely reveal several voids in the plies. The only hardwood plywood I've seen that did not have many voids was some European Baltic Birch. Even that wasn't perfect. The voids can be filled but I've never liked the look. Even then the nose will have all the plies showing. I don't like the plies showing at all. YMMV.  :-/ I think it takes away from the hardwood look. Then as the unfaced ply edges wear with use you'll likely find little splinters forming where the top veneer breaks off. The nose gets a lot of wear.

I base these opinions of mine on experience. Twenty years ago when my wife started her preschool we needed shelves and we needed to them as economically as possible. I built a series of birch plywood shelving units. I routed the front edges round, filled, sanded, finished. After a couple years there were several places where the edges were chipped and damaged, some splinters breaking away. I believe the same thing would happen to stairtreads unless you only walked on them with bare feet. Maybe. The second set of shelving units I built as she expanded a few years later followed the same basic plan. But I affixed 3/4 x 3/4 solid birch strips to the exposed edges. They now show some signs of wear here and there (15 years) but look a whole lot better than the unfaced veneer edges. Oh, I also tried veneering the edges with veneer banding. That didn't work out too well either.

I'd rather use solid pine for stairtreads and have the eventual wear add some character, if you like that sort of thing.

Just an opinion.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

glenn kangiser

Seems PEG said they required 2x (1 5/8) treads where he was.  I would go with the solid too for the reasons Don mentioned.  Nothing you could easily do would keep the front edge on there.  Nice finished solid boards should hold up well.

I think the plywood edge would be more work and not look as good or hold up as good.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

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desdawg

I agree. I think a solid nosing on the treads would make the most sense.
I have done so much with so little for so long that today I can do almost anything with absolutely nothing.


PEG688

  Glenn,  oddly the code / rule is for exterior stairs only  ::)  Go figure!

The poster could use 3/4" Oak ply and glue on a sold wood (Oak) nosing. The stair stringers SHOULD be no more than 12" apart , if no code you might stretch that spacing to 14" I'd recommend keeping them no more than 14" apart which shouldn't be a problem UNLESS it's a very wide stair , you'd need to use 4 stair horses/ stringers / carriages is all.

The treads on this stair are 3/4" Fir ply with a glued on   5/4 " / full 1" wood nosing , it will have a carpet runner, but wouldn't have to except for looks.

This assumes you use good / fresh glue , the stair will not get wet once you build it/ glue it up , and conditions are "right",  temp , lumber dryness,  etc,  before you glue things up etc.

Like others have said most lumber yards , not sure about the big box guys :-/,  sell a 5/4 (full 1" thick ) solid Pine stair tread, they also have OSB in the same thickness for the same  use.

If you go with the 3/4" Oak ply , insure you use a riser as well , it could be made out of the same 3/4" ply . Bring it up tight  (touching) under the tread and  glue & nail from the the back side / under the stair thru the riser back  into the back edge of the tread itself.  The riser , stair stringers / horses , all parts glued where they touch .

Wood stairs will tend to be slippery , kids using them in socking feet etc , but it could work as I've detailed it.

G/L PEG  

When in doubt , build it stout with something you know about .

glenn kangiser

Thanks for the info and the differences, PEG.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

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Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

PEG688

I might add like Mtn.D said you may at some oint wear thru the Oak veneer and see the NON oak ply's below.  Solid Oak brds / treads would be a better olng term choice.
When in doubt , build it stout with something you know about .

wibekkah

Thanks for the info.  I found out today that the local lumber yard sells 5/4 pine tread material that looks very nice and solid, much better and thicker than the treads I saw at lowes yesterday.  We will use that and cut our own treads.  At $2.69/foot it will actually run a little less than the Lowes treads ($11.00 each).  

I noticed that staircase in the photo does not have kickboards.  I thought they were required.

Sasha


PEG688

If you mean skirt boards  boards up the sides of the stairs , no they are not required , unless the client wants to pay for them, which they did not in this case care to do.

In this case the "rough " stair (stringers , treads , risers) all came assembled from the "kit house" manf. in Penticton BC. They also framed the walls as this is a "kit house" they made the stair 1" (one inch) narrower than the framed walls .  This only allowed the dry wall to be slipped beside the assembled stair .

It was decided by the "powers that be" that no "saw tooth" skirt-boards would be used / made for this stair. Generally one does get used , BUT there is no written code or rule that one MUST be used.

I'm not much of a fan of this type build , to many loose ends , I thought , I told them in BC , I never was informed , etc etc . That are part of this type of "system".  That and being in the dark , and behind the 8 ball trying to figure out what the builders did wrong while working at mach one to assemble it to make money it was not fun. Classic PITA type building IMO , OMMV.    
When in doubt , build it stout with something you know about .

wibekkah