Stair Repairs

[Barry Burgess]

I have to repair or replace a flight of stairs in my daughters apartment in Paris. The original oak stairs are over 100years old and a single flight of 10 stairs. The stairs have a single "stringer" on the left and the right hand side is fixed stair by stair to the wall. The building was the stables of a post office and built in 1760 /1800 era but is not listed and has no restrictions on it.
One of those carpet fitters glued & nailed some sort of thin board over the stairs with pine strip on the front of the stairs about 10 years ago.
My problems are - I cannot find single stringer stairs to buy in France
- none of the stairs are the same size vary from 720 to
800mm and the depth of the stair also vary.
- I cannot cut the stringer in the UK as its too large to
transport.
- I cannot get the stairs in the front door but would have to
take it through the first floor window and lower it into
place or make in place.
I have made templates of all the stair bottoms and thought of cutting them in the UK and fitting on site. What thickness of oak should I use? They want the backs of the stairs to be metal??
Am I waisting my time? Should I bite the bullet and remake the stairs??
Thanks in advance .
Barry

 

[Scrit]

Hi Barry

Single stringer - hmmmm, obviously not to code.... :wink: I'm not surprised you can't find a replacement one. Doesn't sound much a joinery job, though, as it's so inconsistent. Unless you absolutely need to replace like for like I'd say it would be much easier to replace the staircase with a conventional two stringer staircase which would have the advantage of a consistent going and greater strength - although open riser stairases are notoriously weak until you get them in place and fix the stringer to the wall - and you don't have a second stringer, so how on earth would you transport it assembled, let alone fix it securely? It's also less likely to rot out where the steps are (presumably cemented into the wall. If repairing why not rake all the component dimensions from the original and just copy them, in situ? (that sounds like loads of fun :? ) Any idea what the construction is - conventional glued/wedged housings probably wouldn't work for this one......

Scrit

 

[Barry Burgess]

Hi Scrit,
The left hand stringer is attached only to the ground floor and at the first floor. The left hand side is a stud wall from the top of the stringer to the first floor. The right hand side wall is by no means square and the stairs just follow the contour of the wall with stair lengths from 720 to 800mm. The right hand side has a strip cut in the shape of the stairs and covered at the top with a cover strip and follows the contour of the wall. Did not take my camera with me but son in law promised to send me a picture but he has not as yet.
With two stringers the stairs would have to be narrower and I would not fix them to the wall but run a cover strip to hide the gap?
I wanted to make the stairs and route the stringer in the Uk and cut them to fit and assemble in France. I have never made a set of stairs before so excuse the ignorance.
Thanks
Barry

 

[johnb]

A couple of web sites that may give you some ideas of legal stair designs in France
http://www.escaland.com/
http://www.kenngott.de/english/2stairs/index.html - they have stairs wall-supported on one side only.

As far as I am aware, there is no regulation concerning the need for risers to stop children dropping through! Baluster spacing is 110mm rather than the 100mm in the UK. Outline of regulations:
http://www.bois-construction.org/produi ... %20bois%22

 

[Scrit]

.....they have stairs wall-supported on one side only.

As far as I can see they are either two stringer, spiral or central spine designs - nothing with a single outer stringer and tied into the wall on the other side. Or have I missed something? I've only made a dozen or so staircases over 20 odd years (including several spirals) so I don't see myself as an expert, but the thought of having a single outer stringer and the other end of the treads embedded into the masonry gives me the creeps.

Scrit

 

[Barry Burgess]

Thanks John but as Scrit said there appears to be no stairs with just one side mounted stringer. There are walls on both sides one being a stud wall. The solid wall was built some time between 1760 and 1800 and is far from straight or level.
Barry
A stair novice

 

[Scrit]

Barry

If it's legit in France, what about making two cut strings like the Americans do, spaced at a few points with the treads fixed on top, thus:

Scrit

 

[dedee]

Would there be any problem in using brackets to hold the steps to the RHS wall?

Andy

 

[johnb]

I wasn't suggesting they had direct replacements but possible designs that might satisfy your requirements.
It possibly isn't that clear from the illustrations on the website, but if you go to the Kenngott site and select Wooden stairs you get several illustrations. Hover over the KENNGOTT Stairs or Hanging Stairs and note the description - both of these have the stairs have fixings on one side into the wall (e.g. KENNGOTT http://www.kenngott.de/home/2treppen/tr ... ase&lan=en hanging stairs (o)n the french web site http://www.kenngott.de/home/2treppen/tr ... ion&lan=fr

The Two-girder system could be used as a different style of replacement as the treads could be varied in size to fit the wall http://www.kenngott.de/home/2treppen/tr ... 8re&lan=fr

 

[Barry Burgess]

Scrit Thats an idea but the LHS stringer has the stud wall attached to it and I cannot get access to it as its part of a cellar that somebody else owns. I could get to it once I removed the stairs. I have only view the stud wall once from the cellar side when the door was left open. I could use the USA stringer on the RHS and extend the step to the wall??

Andy that is how the stairs are fixed at present as far as I can see. Some just might be in the wall as Scrit said.

John The LHS is a stud wall and the RHS wall is the very old non straight and a varying slope and I am not sure if it would take the full weight of the stairs