Wood id plus hints on repair

[Student]

My daughter has an old house in France which I have been helping renovate the past few years.
The latest project is an old flight of stairs. I attach some pictures of the underside and the treads.

At the winder at the foot, there are signs of either woodworm or some old rot. I chiselled out the loose material and removed the loose material. Underneath the surface, the wood is a dark reddish brown. I’m looking to patch this and some cracks in the tread by routing a 12 mm deep hole and gluing in some pieces of wood.

The question is, what species of wood? Any ideas?
In repairing the treads, one or two have worn in an awkward way – see photo below. Any thoughts on how to repair these?

 

[blackrodd]

Looks like Oak treads, 'specially around the nails in pic 1, and the risers obviously softwood, deal of some sort.
A real country job, just what I love!! I see a line of nails, nearly in the middle, under you're proposed repair.
Take out the material with the least amount of "bashing" etc, carefully drill and chisel out and replace.

With flooring, I sometimes copy what has been done for years and cut up a bean can and using Bayonet black upholstery webbing nails tack it down. Was a common country repair in days gone by.
I'm not sure whether to look at it as a clever and almost charming repair in old houses, or a bit of a "lash up"
The steel wears shiny smooth in foot traffic area's
Regards Rodders

 

[Student]

Thanks for your help Rodders. Although there are nails in the centre of each tread, they are normally near the nosing and I think what you are referring to is a trick of the light; but I'll certainly check just in case.

When I took up the lino in one of the bedrooms, there were indeed a couple of pieces of old tin tacked over some areas of the boards where woodworm had had their breakfast/lunch/tea/dinner. We might have regarded this as a "charming repair" if we were going to carpet that bedroom but the boards are due to be sanded and finished with Osmo Poly-X and some pieces of ironmongery would not lend themselves to the final finish or be safe for my grandchildren in their bare feet.

 

[dickm]

Surprised if the treads are oak and show "reddish brown" below the surface. But can't think of a common UK timber with that grain and reddish colour.

 

[blackrodd]

Surprised if the treads are oak and show "reddish brown" below the surface. But can't think of a common UK timber with that grain and reddish colour.

The house is in France, and the timber is therefor probably, French.
French oak, it has that old silvery look.The reddish brown is rot.
A mate, working there, used to come back every month with his pick up loaded, seems to be fairly mellow.
Rodders

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=frenc ... m9vNMNQ%3D

 

[Student]

Resurrecting an old thread of mine but I've just got around to repairing these stairs. I've sorted out the rotten bits in the picture above, thanks again Rodders, and will insert a piece of oak in the 25 mm split in one of the treads. However, I need to fill some cracks in other treads. The thinner ones, up to 2 or 3 mm wide , I can probably fill with a proprietary wood filler such as Brummers. For the wider and deeper ones, I would normally use a two part filler such as that made by Ronseal. However, I want the dried filler to match the surrounding wood and, as far as I am aware, the two part fillers don't take a stain. An alternative solution would be to use epoxy but, if I get it wrong, it would be difficult to rectify. Has anyone got any better ideas,?

Another question is what finish to put on the stairs once repaired. I will need to give them a protective coating but, being stairs, the finish has to be non-slip. What's the best product for the job? I've just used Osmo Polyx for the upstairs floorboards which gave a good result but this seems to give a slightly slippery finish so may not be ideal.

Thanks in advance for any help..

 

[Phil Pascoe]

https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Painti ... 00g/p21587

 

[RobinBHM]

Surprised if the treads are oak and show "reddish brown" below the surface. But can't think of a common UK timber with that grain and reddish colour.

The house is in France, and the timber is therefor probably, French.
French oak, it has that old silvery look.The reddish brown is rot.
A mate, working there, used to come back every month with his pick up loaded, seems to be fairly mellow.
Rodders

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=frenc ... m9vNMNQ%3D

I havent noticed Rodders posting for a long time, anybody know if hes ok?

 

[Student]

Thanks for the info Phil. I'll give both the light stainable and oak versions a go on some scrap and see what looks best. If all else fails, I'll just use them for any filling jobs that will be painted afterwards.

No one got any ideas about what non-slip finish to use?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A good tip for anyone who uses this type of two part filler is to get a small can of styrene from a glass fibre supplier or bodyshop. When you need the filler a bit more liquid mix a little in or if you don't use it often pouring a drop over the top keeps it soft.