Deck Stairs Rotten

[Rock knocker]

No 2X material is now rated for "ground contact", you need to go up to a "timber" size material, possibly 4x4 & up but I'm pretty sure that a 6x6 is rated for ground contact but that does not help you with your stair stringer

That's actually the fault of your lumber store or their vendor, not the mills. Ground contact 2X is still commonly manufactured. Often you have to buy it from a commercial lumber store, not Ace or a big box.

http://www.menards.com/main/deckest...ated-pine-lumber-ground-contact/p-1414288.htm

 

[Egon]

Looks like replacement is in the works. Pt wood, coat it again with several coats of rot restricting product, use sill plate gasket material between risers and the foot boards, a couple of times a year wash everything down with a mixture of dish soap & chlorine bleach (mixture is about that much of each) to maybe thwart new growth. I do this with the pressure washer and the eductor feature.

The failure may have been due to lumber quality?? but that is in the past.

 

[MH8675309]

Some good advice here - but what ever happened to the treated lumber that was supposed to last a hundred years? Not that it ever did but it was better than it is now,,,.

 

[brown40]

There's no environmentally friendly way to prevent living organisms from feeding on cellulose--its what they've evolved to do. I understand we want toxins out of food, water, and living space, but the only wood that doesn't get eaten, is toxic wood.

 

[Rock knocker]

There's no environmentally friendly way to prevent living organisms from feeding on cellulose--its what they've evolved to do. I understand we want toxins out of food, water, and living space, but the only wood that doesn't get eaten, is toxic wood.

Copper is quite good at that, the issue becomes the other metals needed to alloy with copper to allow treatment and the use of modest amounts of expensive copper.

 

[/pine]

I've seen similar issues on stair stringers but more often than not the ones I see are usually caused when 2x treads are nailed down with large non galvanized or cheapo galvanized nails...even with PT water can seep down the shank of the nails eventually rusting the nail to the point that it splits the wood that has been taxed by all the moisture...

I've got some close to 40yo PT 2x6 decking that is still in decent shape for it's age...but a lot of places where water has laid in the nail divots the PT has rotted a bit...

 

[Rustyiron]

I've got some close to 40yo PT 2x6 decking that is still in decent shape for it's age...but a lot of places where water has laid in the nail divots the PT has rotted a bit...

I'd do back flips to be able to get 40 yrs. out of PT lumber, today's (PT) is more like 4-6 years.

 

[Rustyiron]

That's actually the fault of your lumber store or their vendor, not the mills. Ground contact 2X is still commonly manufactured. Often you have to buy it from a commercial lumber store, not Ace or a big box.

http://www.menards.com/main/deckest...ated-pine-lumber-ground-contact/p-1414288.htm

I can get ground contact (2X material) from my commercial yard, but It's special order and I need to take a whole lift minimum order. There's just not enough builders that need PT for anything more than the "green plate" where framing contact's masonry/cement and today's junk PT does that fine so it's not a high demand item for GR lumber.

 

[N80]

Here's an update. /Pine is close to the reason for my problem. I have removed the rotten stringer and the Hardi-Plank risers. When I got the risers off I could see that frontmost screw that holds the tread onto the stringer was too far forward and split the riser face of the stringer on almost every step. I'm pretty sure this is the cause of the rot since where this happened on the remaining 3 stringers the same thing is starting to happen but not as bad. I think the screws were too big, they used four per tread and, again, the forward most screws were too far forward and split the stringer.

I had to remove all the Hardi-Plank risers. There is just no way to get them off without breaking them. I may or may not replace them. Will replace rotted stringer tomorrow. Interestingly the bottom of the stringers sit on a little concrete pad but it is now below ground level and for all intents and purposes they are sitting in dirt but that part of the stringers is still quite sound. I think the whole stairway will need replacing in three or four years but I'm not up for it right now. I'll paint the new one and the exposed areas of the old ones and it will be fine for a while.

And speaking of PT lumber, I was cleaning out my tractor shed down at my cabin and found some of that green, wet, heavy 2x8 piece PT lumber like you could used to buy lying in the woods on the ground. I picked it up and the ground side was a little discolored and spongy down to about 1/8 of an inch but the rest of it was fine and structurally is was sound. It had been there for 10 years. This new stuff is not up to that.

 

[Zerk]

The only thing I can see that might be a clue is that the carpenter that cut the stringer made the cuts where the riser and the tread meet with a circular saw (which is normal) but rather than finishing the cut with a hand saw he extended the cut into the stringer in both directions with the circular saw. To me, that's just lazy and sloppy but I'm not sure if that is why this stringer rotted so fast. Maybe this extended cut was a site for water to get into the wood? Any thoughts on this?



?

When is the last time you used a hand saw?

I use a chisel, or sawzall, if I care. That is not why it rotted though.

Treated wood changed 10 years ago. Which is why you have to use stainless or treated fasteners. I don't know how many people actually do it, but you should paint or stain cut ends. I am not sure if it has always been that way, but the treatment is on the surface.

Boards on a wall are vertical, as opposed to stairs, this is probably a big factor.

Do you salt your steps in the winter? If so that may be it.


I just painted some steps, with a product I was told was great. I didn't prep the wood, so it may be my fault. But it is already coming off in a couple areas. Dog's nail probably the reason. Wish I would have saved the $50 and go some new boards and stained them, next year. You need to wait before painting or staining.