Indy Total Construction

Staircases are often taken for granted yet they are complex pieces of carpentry which give many years of trouble-free use. They rarely need replacing: just as well, since they are often tailor-made to fit. Even so you can buy ready made versions, which cater for common storey heights and these can often be easily adapted to fit exactly.

A staircase comprises a number of steps fixed between two long boards which are fixed to the joists of the floors they connect. These boards are called strings, the horizontal surfaces of the steps are called treads and sometimes they have vertical boards between them known as risers.

Strings can be in two forms: closed and cut. With the former the ends of the treads and risers are housed in shallow slots cut in the face of the string and held there by wedges driven in from behind and below. The risers are fixed to the treads below with housing joints or screws, and to the treads above by triangular blocks glued and nailed in place. The top edge of a cut string is shaped to provide horizontal ledges to which the treads are fixed. Sometimes both foul’s of string will be used in the same staircase, the closed string being fixed against a wall with the cut string on the outside.

Further support for the steps can be provided by a beam that runs below the treads and risers parallel to the strings. This is known as a carriage.

There are two basic types of staircase: the closed tread and open tread. Of the two, the former is most common, having treads and risers in a boxed-in construction. The underside of the strings are usually clad with lath and plaster or gypsum board or there may be a closet below the stairs. The latter is preferable since it allows easy inspection and repair. The open tread staircase has no risers and is completely exposed.

In a closed tread staircase the treads are about lin thick and will overhang the risers by a similar amount, their leading edges or noses being rounded off. A decorative molding is often fitted below the nose. An open tread staircase will tend to have thicker treads because they are not supported by risers, although sometimes a batten will be set on edge immediately below them to stiffen the tread.

All staircases must have at least one handrail and if wide they must have one on each side, depending on the requirements of your local code. The handrail forms part of the balustrade, the other parts of which are the newel posts and balusters.

The newel posts fit at each end of the stairs with the handrail running between them. Not only do they support the handrail but often the strings as well which will be slotted into them and fixed with wooden dowels. Further support for the handrail is provided by the balusters which fit between it and the strings.

Though straight staircases are common, where space is limited it is often necessary for the stairs to change direction on the way up. A small quarter landing is used to provide a 90° change of direction and a half landing will turn the stairs back on themselves.

If there is not room for a half or quarter landing a turn can be put into the stairs by inserting triangular treads called winders. Winders are also used in spiral staircases which can be great space savers. Unfortunately they are not very practical since carrying furniture and other bulky items up them is difficult.

Being able to get into the roof space of your home is important, not just because of the extra storage capacity it offers but also to be able to deal with emergencies like leaking roofs and burst pipes. and also to be able to install extra light fittings to the rooms below.

Most houses already have some form of hatchway providing access to the attic but it may not always be in the most convenient place, and in some instances there may be no access to the attic at all. In both situations you can make a new opening with comparatively little trouble.

The usual position of an attic hatchway is in a hall or over a landing. but in the latter case make sure it is not over the staircase itself. Do not put it near an external wall either if this meets the eaves of the roof, as there will not be enough headroom above the opening.

Another important consideration when positioning an opening is the space needed in the roof and in the room below for any attic ladder you intend fitting.

Having decided on the approximate position. locate the adjacent joists by tapping the ceiling and probing with a bradawl. or mark through from the loft if you can reach it by some other route.

Break through the ceiling between a pair of joists and open up the hole until you can make a saw cut alongside one of them. Then mark out the opening on the ceiling from this baseline. Its size will be determined by the joist spacing and since this will be too close to make the opening between the pair, it will have to span three. This means cutting through the center joist and linking it to the joists on each side with short “trimmer” joists. The wood used must be the same size as that of the original joists.

Before you cut through the intermediate joists. support the ceiling on each side of the opening with stout planks and wood or adjustable metal props.

Line the opening with 1 in thick planed wood the same depth as the joists and nailed in place flush with the ceiling. The corners of this can be simply butted together.

Then make up a plywood trapdoor for the opening. hinging it to the bottom of the lining and either fitting a magnetic catch on the opposite side or an automatic catch such as that supplied with an attic ladder.

Finally, nail lengths of mitered molding around the opening, driving the nails into the joists so that the molding holds the edges of the ceiling firmly in place.

Of all the sections of the staircase likely to suffer damage, the handrails come top of the list. Yet they play an important safety role by preventing people from falling down the stairs and so must be kept in good repair.

The balusters are the most vulnerable part of the assembly and may become loose or broken.

A loose toe-nailed baluster can be tapped free with a mallet and block of wood, the nails removed and the holes opened out with a drill to accept countersunk screws. Then glue and screw it in place.

If the ends of the baluster are held by mortise joints, you can stop the baluster rattling about by driving narrow wedges into the gaps around the ends, having first smeared them with glue. Cut the ends of the wedges flush with the surface of the string or handrail as appropriate. Sometimes, the balusters are held by thin strips of wood nailed in place between the ends of adjacent balusters. In this case, carefully prise off the strips on each side of the loose baluster and replace them with slightly longer ones.

If the baluster is actually broken, you can either replace it with a new one (assuming you can get one to match) or glue it back together, reinforcing the joint with dowels or screws. Toe-nailed balusters are easily removed as described above, as are those held by nailed-on capping pieces. However, if they are mortised into the string and handrail, you may have to saw through the ends to remove the baluster. Then glue blocks of wood into the mortise, plane them flush, cut the new baluster to fit and glue and screw it in place as you would a skewnailed version.

If a section of handrail is broken, you can make a simple repair by screwing a metal plate underneath across the break. Alternatively, you- can cut out a section and fit a new piece, using special handrail bolts or screws.

These need matching holes in the ends of the old and new rail, and the easiest way of marking them is with a paper template that matches the profile of the rail with the hole center marked on it. Hold the template over the end of each piece and mark the hole center by punching through with a nail. Additional holes must be drilled or cut with a chisel into the underside of the rail so that the nuts securing the bolt can be tightened.

Newel posts are unlikely to break, but if they do, they must be replaced completely. To remove it, you will have to lift the adjacent floorboards and unbolt the base from the joists. Then drive out the dowels holding the handrail and string to it. Finally, tap the newel post free — it may help to cut it into sections with a saw.

Use the old post as a guide for marking out the new one, making sure the mortises and dowel holes are all positioned correctly. Treat the base of the post with preservative and refit it, gluing the string and handrail in place and reinforcing the joints with fresh dowels.

Whether you are installing a new staircase or simply repairing an existing one, the range of components available in kit form makes the task much easier.

The stairs may be ready-assembled and consist of 12 or 14 treads for a full flight or six treads for a half-flight; they are available with or without risers (for closed or open tread styles) and bullnose steps allow extra versatility at floor-level.

The newels, baluster spindles, rails and fittings are manufactured in a wide variety of styles, from traditional to contemporary. The timber, which includes mahogany and hemlock, is usually sanded ready for varnishing or staining.

Actual physical damage to stair treads is rare and will probably be limited purely to split or broken nosings. These can be repaired by cutting them off flush with the riser below, using a chisel, and pinning on a new molding.

A much more common problem, particularly in older houses, is creaking as a result of the treads becoming loose. The ease with which this can be fixed depends very much on whether you can get to the underside of the stairs or not. If you can, simply pin and glue 2 x 2in triangular blocks of wood between the treads and risers below, and drive screws up through the tread into the riser above. This is the only way you can fix a staircase with closed strings.

If the staircase has one or two cut strings, you can make the repair from above. First prise off the molding from below the tread nose and the molding holding the foot of the baluster in place, using an old chisel. Run a hacksaw blade along the gap between the back of the tread and upper riser. cutting through any fixings. Alternatively, cut through the riser itself with a backsaw. Drive a chisel blade between the tread nose and riser and lever it free. Then you can remove the risers if damaged.

If necessary. cut a new tread and riser from wood of the same size as the originals.

If one of the strings is closed, glue and pin supporting blocks to it for the ends of the riser and tread. Use offcuts of the tread and riser wood as positioning guides to ensure a tight fit. Then glue and pin the riser in place.

Pin and glue more blocks to the top of the lower riser and then glue the tread on top, strengthening the bond by driving screws or nails down through the ends into the cut string or strings. Do not drive any screws or nails through the leading edge of the tread as they may become exposed as the tread wears.

Refit the baluster, pinning it to the handrail and then pin the retaining molding to the end of the tread. Finally, refit the molding beneath the tread nose.

If you can reach the underside of a closed string staircase, you can replace treads or risers by removing their retaining wedges with a chisel and sliding the damaged parts out. Slot the new pieces in and fit new wedges. If a carriage runs down the centre of the stairs, however, the work is best left to a joiner or builder.

In converting an attic the installation of one or more dormer windows will not only provide essential natural light but also increase the headroom over areas of floor that were previously unusable.

In addition to providing windows and extra floor space, with a dormer built up from eaves level, you can site a staircase immediately below it fixed to the external wall of the house, whereas normally it would have to run through the center for there to be enough headroom at the top.

Since several rafters will have to be cut through make the doliner, the framework must be strong enough to support the load previously borne by the cut rafters. It must also have support at floor level unless it is possible to set the framing directly on top of a loadbearing wall. The original attic joists would certainly not be strong enough. However, since a dormer will be put in as part of an attic conversion this is not really a problem. A strengthening framework and extra joists will have to be put in for the new attic floor and this can be made to support the claimer framework as well. This new framework is built directly onto the house load- bearing walls and is completely independent of the original attic joists and ceiling below.

Calculating the loads involved and designing the supporting framework is specialist work for an architect, engineer or a contractor.

The construction of the donuer framework would follow on from constructing the floor support structure. Once the dormer is complete, do the rest of the conversion work. Access to the roof will be needed so that bulky materials can be passed through from the outside after removing a few tiles or slates and cutting an opening in the roofing felt. An access tower and roof ladder are essential.

The first job is to build the framework of the dormer, making sure it is secure before cutting through the original rafters and removing them.

The first sections of framework to be erected are the two corner posts for the outer end of the dormer. There is no need to strip off all the roofing within the dormer area for this initial construction work; remove

only small sections of tiles and pass the framework through. In this way the roof can be kept reasonably weathertight for most of the time.

The corner posts stand on the supporting floor joists below and are linked immediately below rafter level by a horizontal beam. Short wooden studs are nailed between the purlin and the supporting floor beam. The purlin has two purposes: to tie the bottoms of the corner posts together and to support the lower ends of the original rafters when they are cut through. All the construction is toe-nailed to fit.

Next, nail a horizontal beam across the tops of the corner posts. The joists for the top of the dormer can then be fitted: nail their outer ends to the top of the header and pass them right through the roof and bolt them to the rafters on each side for stability.

If the roof of the dormer is to be flat, tapered wooden slats, called furring pieces, are nailed to the tops of the joists so that the roof will have a fall to the front for drainage. If the dormer is to have a pitched roof, a ridge board and additional rafters are installed above the joists.

Before removing the roof from within the dormer framework, fit additional trimmer rafters between the corner posts and the roof ridge bar (or hip rafter if the dormer is a wide one on a hipped roof). Cut shallow notches in the sides of the corner posts to take the ends of these trimmers, and nail in place.

To complete the framework, the roofing must be stripped off. Lift the tiles or slates from the battens, cut out the felt and saw through the battens to expose the joists: cut these off flush with the undersides of the dormer joists and level with the inner face of the new supporting purlin.

Nail vertical studs between the trimmer rafters and the joists above to provide support for the side “cheek” cladding of the dormer, spacing them to take account of the width of the cladding sheets so that their edges always fall on the centerline of a stud.

Complete the framework by adding a wooden subframe to support the window itself. This is usually a horizontal beam set between the corner posts and supported below by short studs nailed to the top of the new purlin, and possibly to the sides of the cut rafters as well. The window will be narrower than the distance between the corner posts, so nail additional studs between the horizontal beam and header to support it at the sides.

The roof is covered first and if it is flat, it is decked with exterior grade plywood, butting the sheets together and nailing them to the supporting joists. To provide support for the flashing, slip a narrow strip of board under the roof at the junction with the dormer and nail it to the original rafters. To provide a certain degree of protection until the job is completed, you can add the first two layers of felt at this stage, taking them up under the original roof and leaving overlaps at the sides and front for finishing off.

Next the sides and front of the framework on either side of the window opening can be paneled in: you can use foil-backed gypsum board for the cheeks. Nail it to the outside of the framework with the foil side outei inost to prevent moisture penetration.

Fit lead soakers beneath the tiles on each side of the dormer; it may actually be easier to do this before cladding the sides, since they will slip in from the ends of the courses without the removal of the tiles.

Before finishing off cladding the sides, add flashing to the front of the dormer below the window-opening, taking it over the top of the frame-supporting beam and down over the roof tiles or slates below.

If tiles are to be used for cladding, nail narrow battens horizontally around the dormer (the spacing being dictated by the tile size). If boarding is used, nail the battens on vertically. Overlapping tiles and boards are nailed on in pattern to keep out rainwater.

Fit window frames made from seasoned wood. A gutter is fixed along the front fascia board with a short down-pipe at one end which can be led down the corner of the dormer to discharge its contents over the roof below.

Having clad the outside of the dormer and glazed the window, finish off inside — this can be done at the same time as building the interior of the attic room.

While the framework is still exposed, however, glass fiber or polystyrene insulation can be fixed between the various frame members at the sides and in the roof before they are clad with drywall or whatever internal wall cladding is being used.