Josh McGrath

Q: CAN I ORDER A TREAD OR RISER THAT IS NOT YOUR STANDARD WIDTH?

A: Depends on your specific order, but most of the time, yes. I have made a chart for our Retro and Traditional profile of stair treads and risers that can help answer that question:

What have I learned in my first two months at Woodstairco.com/ Coastal Carolina Wood Products? For starters I had no clue that each step in my stair case can and probably will vary slightly, or that the different parts of the step/stair actually has a name! The horizontal part is the tread and the vertical part is the riser, and if one side of the step is not cut off by a wall it is called a return.

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/ ).

On box treads, we do not cut the treads and sell them in standard 11-1/2" widths x lengths in increments of 6". So, if there's a wall on both sides of your staircase, you'd need a 60" tread. See this link

https://Woodstairco.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?length=22&q=stcr

If you have an exposed edge (left or right return - or two exposed edges would be a double return), we can rip the tread to the 10-1/2" width prior to attaching the returns since cutting afterwards would be very difficult. 

The thinnest we'll make a retro tread is 3/4" because solid wood products any thinner than 3/4" will be very prone to warping and cupping on 11-1/2" wide product. The 3/4" thickness is very close to the original thickness of new, standard-grade carpet + padding (usually +- 1/8" or less).

Regarding the concerns over the rise/run ratio of a staircase remodeled with our Retro Treads , the original rise of the first and last steps are almost never the same in site-built staircases.

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.

From time to time, we hear a variation of this question: I want to put wood treads on my stairs leading to the basement. I heard wood is slippery. Is it? Which type would you recommend? I was wondering which would make them less slippery stain or polyurethane. Please advise me. Thank you.

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...