Hardwood stairs

[Kyle Stapleton]

In the last stage of my remodel and I'm gluing up my stairs and was woundering if I need to do anything special with the glue up with a bread board end so they do not move and brake the joint.
Thanks,

[Ger21]

They're going to move, and there's nothing you can do about it. I'd probably just round over the end grain.

[srwtlc]

Glue only the miter and a couple of inches at the mitered end and then possibly a sliding dovetail or a pinned tongue & groove with oblong holes for the pins in the tongue.

[Chuck Keysor]

Kyle, Scott is right on this.

Glue the corner, and have a tongue and groove joint for most of the width of the tread, making the tongue be shorter than the groove, so that the wood is free to expand across the grain. And don't glue the tongue into the groove, again, to allow wood movement that will occur with humidity changes.

To hold the end away from the miter in place, use a finishing nail. The nail will give, allowing the wood to move without breaking anything, but still holding the end in place so it looks nice.

I just looked at my front hall stairs, (made in 1929) and they are detailed like your treads. That set of stairs, which is in perfect shape, has two finish nails on the end piece. One nail near the mitered corner, and the other at the back of the tread. As the nail holes are filled with putty, and varnished over, it is hard to say, but I'd guess these nails are 2" or 2 1/2" long.

On my stairs, in addition to the nice end cap on the tread, there is also a small molding applied between the toe of the tread and the riser. This is a very nice, traditional detail.

Chuck

[feinddj]

I worked for years in a high end stair company. We always biscuited the horns (that's the mitered end on the tread) and then glued with tightbond. To my knowledge, never had a call back on any stair for glue joint failure.

David

[Kyle Stapleton]

Thanks for the tips will be getting to work on them this week.