I am redoing the stairs in my entry way. They were covered with carpet and that is now gone. I have bought some nice oak for the risers and have cut them and put them in place. Now I need to cut the treads. How much overhang should there be? I was thinking 1 1/2", is that too much or too little? Is there a norm or is it personal choice? Just trying to do this nice. If anyone has theirs done this way, could you measure the overhang?

No set standard, but too much overhang and you run the risk of catching your toe on the way up and tripping. Treads should be 10 to 12" deep. Any less doesn't give you room to plant the foot on the way down. Any more can make it feel awkward on the way up. 3/4 to 1" past the riser should be sufficient. If you use a small trim under the tread (on the riser) extend the tread by that much more. Round the edge of the tread.

As I learned the hard way when getting my occupancy permit for my addition, BOCA, which is adopted almost everywhere as the building code, requires 12" minimum from "nose to nose".

So if, say, you built your basement stairs with a 12" tread and a 1" overhang, you have a "nose to nose" distance of 11" and you will have to tear them out and do it again.

Ask me how I know

BTW, when I was asking around about the norm for overhang, 3 guys told me 1" and one said 3/4" to 1 1/2"

aircooled is RIGHT!!! 3/4 it the norm unless your puttin' trim under the bullnose. some times i even make a living doing that kind of work; but would much rather be driving the "teener"

If you are using a 3/4 in cove molding under the stairs you should overhang the face of the finished riser by 1.5 inches..

I wanted to add something here:
Studies have show many times that the human brain can remember after the first step the exact height.
This means your toe will come to within .03 inches of the nosing each time you lift you foot for the next step.
It is reall critical to make all the steps the same.
Code restrict you to 3/16 variation...but it is not that hard to make them all the same...

If you are not using some sort of cove molding under the nose of the tread, 1 inch will be fine.

If you have framed the stairs all the same, the measurement nosing to nosing will be the same as the framing.

Use a liberal amount of construction adhesive on top of each of the stair stringers to prevent squeaks.

Also, if you have a slot in the riser to glue the tread into that stops another place for squeaks.

If you have no slot in the bottom of the riser, and you can reach behind each riser, it is common practise to nail the bottom of the riser into the back of the tread...

You must find a way to attach the tread to the riser above of it will squeak.

Lots of glue, All the risers go on irst, then the treads...

Lots of glue...and construction adhesive..

Good luck.
If you want to really learn...get the "treatise on stair building and handrailing"... look on amazon

Rich

You guys missed the point. He's not building a new stair case. He's just replacing the carpet with oak treads and risers. Whatever he overhangs the treads, he'll have the same depth tread from nose to nose as he has now. His pitch will remain the same. He's going for the proper perspective, ie,the look. That said, as long as the riser or trim is behind the arc of the bull nose it will look right. I've done this for living for 35 years.

Like rich said, glue is our friend.

i was just about to add that GLUE GLUE GLUE GLUE GLUE

Did I mention GLUE.

Squeaks are from the wood to wood rubbing or from the treat sliding up and down over the nail...both can be fixed with guess what GLUE.

If its to late and you did not use glue or they already squeak, most furniture repair tool companies offer a needle that is very strong and is used for injecting glue after the fact.

Good luck

GLUE

#1 square head drive trim screws will hold better than the nails too.

I heard somewhere, that glue is a good thing to use....

Ironically [well, not real ironic], I have to replace my POS original stairs leading from the livingroom to the basement, with some nice oak stuff.....starting this weekend unfortunately. Keep talkin', I'm taking notes

Oh...when attaching the treads and risers to the stairsupportthingy (nom?), do you attach them with "L" brackets from the underside? Or counterbored holes with plugs from the top?.......or something not even close to what I just described?

Kevin, you can attach the treads and risers to the "stringer" with finish nails or finish screws, and fill the holes. Tip: fill nail holes after the stain and before the final coat of finish is applied. Go to the paint store and get some "color putty". Regular screws and plugs are fine too.

Oh yeah, don't forget the glue.

Should I use glue?



Wow, thanks guys!

I did plan on using liquid nails for the treads. I hate sqeaks I think I'll rip two and see how they look. I'm sure an inch or so would look ok. I was just paranoid about it. I don't know anyone who has bare wood stairs, so didn't have anything to go by. Thanks for the good info.

Bare wood, same here. I was actually concerned about someone busting their ass since they're so smooth.

Lets see here...

2 Socks + Hardwood = Busted Ass x Number of Steps ..........hmmmmm, carry the 3......Yep, your ass would most definitely be busted!

Any tips/tricks for traction?

basic rule of thumb, tread+riser+tread= 29". i've never heard of doing all of the risers and then treading. that means the back of the tread abutts the verticle face of the riser. any deflection in the tread could result in a rub/squeek, and you look down on the seam. yes on square drive screws, i would recommend the decking variety, less apt to shear when screwing in. buy some extra tips. when one skips for the first time change it out.

k