Tricks & Tools

First of all, we're happy to hear your pleased with your treads, and after this long, all they need is a little freshening up! If you want to actually put a light finish over top of the UV coating, you'll need to use something rated for already finished surfaces and the only product we recommend is "Traffic" from Bona-Kemi (https://www.bona.com/en-US/Bona-Professional/Products/Coatings/Waterborne-Finishes-and-Sealers/Bona-Traffic/ ).

installed your retro treads on 3 staircases about 4 years ago. I am not as pleased with some of the earlier ones I did, as my skill improved with time (a few have gaps on either side that I don't like). I also have one that split. How do you recommend removing a stairtread? I was thinking of trying to strike underneath the bullnose with a rubber mallet, but that may not work or may damage the riser and other treads.

Quite often, we are asked what saw blades to use when cutting prefinished stair treads to achieve the best cut.  Proper saw blade selection, along with a few basic cutting techniques will save a lot of touch-up work during installation.For starters, to cut a full 11-1/2" stair tread, a 12" sliding miter saw is best.This will allow you to make a full 12" cut in one pass.

So you've finally got everything finished and ready for installation and you've bought our recommended glue. So is there a recommended fastener type and pattern to be used for mechanical fasteners (nails, screws, nothing...)?

You'll want to apply the glue in an "S" pattern and make sure you have good coverage - you really don't need to overdo it on the glue, but want good coverage.

So you're replacing carpeted stairs with wood treads and just really aren't sure what to do about that switchback in your staircase. You really like the retro tread products as they create a more uniform look, are more durable, and just easier to install but you have an intermediate landing (sometimes called a return or switchback) in your staircase and just really aren't sure how to tackle that part of your project...

Here's a variation of one of the most common statements / questions we get:

I would like hard wood treads on my now carpeted stairs. Currently there is wood on both sides of the tread that the banister is connected to. It seems the wood tread would have to be 1/2" thick, by 33" by 11 3/4". Do you have any thing close to this? We could cut the length or width.

We have some beautiful Brazilian Cherry veneer, but it would be really difficult to cut and glue it to the existing routed skirtboard. My boss is more familiar with working with the veneer as well as covering the attached routed skirtboard on staircases such as yours. He suggests covering it with the 3/4" Brazilian Cherry skirtboard which will make your stairs 1-1/2" narrower overall.

Here are the dimensions of standard treads, and moulding from Stair-Treads.com!

We can also make custom dimensions if the job calls for different specs than what is shown on this sheet.

Contact us today at 866-429-0979 and a friendly sales represenative will be happy to help! 

If you are looking for an easy way to increase the overall decorative appearance of your staircase using stair brackets is a quick and simple option to pursue. Stair brackets are used along the sides of an exposed staircase to cover up the exposed edges of a riser or stair treads. Typically stair brackets are on a stair case that has returns.