Fixing broken stairs

I have a step on my stairs that is splitting, and had a quick google to see if I could get some ideas how to fix it.

What a stroke of luck that the first result was this article. The chap in the article has exactly the same issue as I do.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20504313,00.html

Looks simple enough. Does anyone know what those pegs he's used are called though? If I can't find them in the UK, do you reckon I'd get away with ordinary dowling, or maybe use bolts?

 

Not seen em over here, but we use a simliar fixing called helifix, a metal bar that you drive into timber with a drill, its self guiding once its taken hold.

If you were using dowel, you wouldn't get the compression to glue the board back together so a countersunk screw would be better.

 

Found this. http://www.helifix.co.uk/

Seems they do a lot of different products (possibly including some I might need when it comes to sorting out my outside wall).

Not sure which one is for fixing my stairs though.

How about this for a plan:

1. Two counter sunk self tapping screws into the step to nip it up, glue in the crack first.
3. Maybe 3 dowel pegs tapped into the step at intervals, and wood filler or tiny bits of dowel glued over the screw heads.
4. Sand it all smooth so that hopefully, with a bit of luck, it is nice and strong but with an invisible repair.

 

Sounds spot on How you going to keep Jamesy off the stairs for a day or so though, it'll need time to go off. Good excuse for a holiday though, come back 4 days later to unstick the tabby cat from it

 

Haven't got a cat. Don't know how I'd keep people off it til the glue's had time to dry properly though. It will be easy enough to keep the lad off, he has teh most freakily excellent memory. I told him nearly a year ago that a certain patch of the lawn was off limits for a while because I'd just reseeded i. He still guides people around that patch now. It's wife that's the problem. She has the opposite attribute. Tell her not to do something and you can be certain she'll have done whatever she wasn't meant to within 5 minutes.

 

Interesting technique and tooling . Like the use of the square to make sure the drill is going in true - why do I never do that !
As Ziggy said I would use brass countersunk screws , counterbore the heads in about 5mm and fill in with woodfiller . Use a good quality wood adhesive along the split as shown in the video.

 

Same here. I was well impressed with that technique. I'd never have thought of it yet it makes perfect sense. The number of times I've had a go at precision drilling by eye and got it almost right, but not close enough

Any particular reason for using brass ones? I'd have thought brass wouldn't be especially strong, and would have been tempted to just use the steel ones, partly because I have a box full of them in my cupboard.

 

Brass wont absorb moisture from the air & swell up ans split the wood a few years later.

 

I can lend you one.

 

I bought some 'decking screws' back in 'summer' and they were surprisingly expensive compared to ordinary steel ones. They were a bit more pricey than normal steel ones, and I figured I was probably being ripped off but bought them anyway. Is that why, cos they were brass so as not to rust and swell?

I did notice when I was building the lad's play area thing that the decking screws went into the wood much more easily than similar sized steel ones for some reason.

 

Never need to borrow a cat. You just have to offer any cat some food and its yours. Sometimes even an acknowledgement of its existence is enough to make it cling to you like glue. I usually try my best to ignore them.

 

Probably not brass, but sheridised or galvanised. Steel would rust very quickly & make a right mess of the decking. I've used a lot of stainless steel fixings as they won't interact with the masonry or timber that i've been working with.

 

Shows how much I know. I bought a massive box of steel screws from the hardware shop when building that lad's play area. Luckily I used decking screws on for the bulk of it, but ordinary steel ones (and some massive steel bolts) where I thought extra strength was required. In that case its not too important, as its an ongoing project so we can just replace chunks of it as the lad grows and I learn more about building stuff. More important when it comes to house related stuff because I want any repairs to last so I don't have to keep doing them.

 

Steel will be fine indoors Dave . The decking screws go in quick probably as they have a fast helix 2 start thread ? To keep folk off your work while the glue sets try razor wire
I think a screwed glued joint will be OK to use almost immediately as long as you don't start carrying grand pianos up and down stairs.

 

If its a polished tread like the one in the video you could get a plug cutter, so you counter bore the screw hole then cut a plug to fit the hole in the same type of timber.
That way you get straight grain on the face rather than end grain like in the video.
Just normal steel zinc plated screws would be OK.

Couldn't understand why he didn't just use a normal piece of dowel, I guess he is trying to sell some crazy product.

If the split is further back, and you can get to the underside, you could screw a couple of cleats in the back of the tread.

Also if its not an open string on one side like in the video you might have problems forcing open the crack, as the tread will be housed in on both sides.