BARF Home Improvement: Installing Stairs

[Mike95060]

Great suggestion thank you!

I'd never thought of or heard of one

I consider it payback for all your expertise in the cooking thread. The homemade pizza has been a huge hit at the house and now it has been elevated to "Birthday Dinner" status.

Virtuous BARF circles make me happy. :thumbup

 

[HappyHighwayman]

Removing the overhang today, Circular saw does 85% but I can't get the edges. Hand saw is proving too hard and slow I am going to be a straight edge electric saw

 

[sf250gto]

Removing the overhang today, Circular saw does 85% but I can't get the edges. Hand saw is proving too hard and slow I am going to be a straight edge electric saw

Not sure if that is a question of what you need, but sounds like you could use a jig saw. Other alternatives may be sawzall/reciprocating saw for more demolition type rough work or an oscillating tool, which would be slower.

 

[kiwi_outdoors]

are you sure??

looking over some of your questions - my advise is to do other simpler projects before doing a staircase - you sound like a total neophyte.

BTW - a circular saw is not as dangerous as it looks - just be careful with placement of tool, wood, rests and hands. Always.

I still have the entirety of my 10 fingers. Table saws used to scare the heck out of me, less so now that I own a 10" Bosch jobsite saw (on a custom base).

 

[HappyHighwayman]

I got a Milwaukee cordless sawzall but I think the blade is the wrong kind (said for "wood") because it's not better than a hand saw.

I've gotten some good circular saw experience today, it's pretty safe I can't get my fingers near the blade if you hold it properly. We used a chisel to clean it up and got all the lips off

What a mess

 

[mikev]

a sawzall would not be a very good tool for doing cuts like that.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

Now I know

 

[tzrider]

Late to the party but would have suggested a chisel. You did good.

Another poster had mentioned Bora sawhorses. I hadn’t seen these before and got a couple after reading his comments. They’re badass!

Oh, sharpen that chisel...

 

[HappyHighwayman]

I have 15 steps so I ordered 16 of these

I will likely use more to do the upstairs steps once I master this process.

Stupid question: Do they make "finishing nails" that you can hammer in manually without a pin nail gun?

 

[HappyHighwayman]

Late to the party but would have suggested a chisel. You did good.

Another poster had mentioned Bora sawhorses. I hadn’t seen these before and got a couple after reading his comments. They’re badass!

Oh, sharpen that chisel...

So I was all "You want me to put the hammer down?" on some sections but let me tell you compressed wood is tough. Much easier to attack from the side between the layers But the circular saw followed by hand saw and then hammer/chisel worked great.

 

[tzrider]

Stupid question: Do they make "finishing nails" that you can hammer in manually without a pin nail gun?

Yes. You'll want a small punch to set them a bit below flush so you can hide them with a dab of matching putty.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

Cool I have said punch

thank you

 

[Sharxfan]

Here is a tip I use for finishing nails whether nail gun or hammer.

Put a piece of painter's tape where you plan to put the nail.
Nail through the tape.
Set the nail with your punch/nail set
Put putty in hole.
Once dry remove the tape and you now have a cleanish area that may need a light hit with sandpaper.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

They make putty in the stain of my particular laminate ?

Does laminate even need finishing nails?

 

[Sharxfan]

You had asked about finishing nails so I gave a tip based on driving the nails.

Most finishing nails are slightly thicker and still have a head. If you get the too thin ones then you would have to drill a starter hole and hope they don't bend. Unless you were asking about pins which have to be driven by a nail gun and don't really leave a discernible hole.

For the treads you bought it looks like maybe glue is the way to go and maybe pins to hold it in place while the glue dries. I don't think pins really have mechanical fastening strength and are mostly for holding things in place while the glue dries.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

Thanks so much

 

[Sharxfan]

I actually looked it up on the Home Depot website and it does say to use only urethane glues to glue it down so I guess that is the answer. I would place some kind of weight on the step to make sure that it gets a good bond between the two.

Good Luck.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

The risers are fortunately all the correct height so I just need one cut for each:

 

[HappyHighwayman]

The risers definitely needed finishing nails. I just hammered them in since they'll be painted anyway.

This is physically more demanding than I thought but about expected on the expense/amount of work involved.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

Came out pretty good! Left my house 3:00 and done by 7:00 including drive to and from Lowe's


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Jesus says for the upstairs I shoudn't bother cutting the step lips or installing risers since the stair backing is pretty finished. This makes it so much easier.