That stair tread replacement ate my whole Saturday

Tried swapping a rotted tread on a client's staircase in Arlington last week. Thought it'd be a 2 hour job. Ended up spending 6 hours because the stringer had hidden water damage underneath. Anyone else run into surprise rot inside a seemingly simple fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

brooke4752mo ago

Oh man, that reminds me of my buddy Dave who tried fixing one step at his grandma's place and found the whole bottom half of the stringer was basically dust. Took him a full weekend to rebuild half the staircase.

-1

morgan9152mo ago

Yeah that's not really how stringers work but close enough I guess.

abbychen1mo ago

Oh man, @morgan915 you're totally right... I definitely don't know the first thing about stringers. I once tried to fix a squeaky step at my place and ended up cutting the whole thing an inch too short... then glued it back together with wood filler and hope. It's still holding, but I wouldn't let anyone over 150 pounds step on it...