Bernie Hunt wrote:
dpb,

Sorry about the size. I took them with my cell phone so the'd be smaller
than the 10mb slr.

The risers and stringers are going to be painted.

So see the damage, look at eithe picture and find the glue joint closet to
the back riser. That glue joint has failed. The other tread has two failed
glue joints. FWIR it's the first and second glue joints nearest to the
riser. Either way it's deep into the tread.

You bring up an interesting point. I may be able to bust out the upper riser
between the two bad stairs. That might give access to the upper and lower
tread for clamping. I would then just have to replace that riser. I'll
experiement and see if I can tell if that riser sits ontop of the lower
tread. If it does then I may be able to get it out.

Bernie

If you do that, please take a well-lit photo of the opened-up step, and
post a link back here. At this point, I'm curious what the actual
internal construction of the stairs is. I still suspect what you are
calling a stringer is just a trim board, and what somebody else called
skirting. But if there is no center stringer, I suppose this could be a
factory-made prefab staircase or something, and have dado'd stringers.
You say the step feels springy in the center, at least with the detached
part of the tread. If you tap the center part of the riser, does it ring
hollow or solid? A tiny hole drilled in the center of the riser would
tell you in seconds if there is a center stringer or not. What year was
the house built? How wide are the stairs?

Also, please use your real camera for the pictures. If it is 10
megapixel, there will be a menu to turn the resolution down, or you can
do it in your computer as you post it. The better lens and flash
compared to a cell phone will make a much better picture.

This long-distance pro-bono consulting is frustrating at times. I'm no
expert, but I know if I could see it in person, I could figure it out in
a few minutes. The actual experts on here could do it even quicker. A
sharp ice pick and thin putty knife, and a hammer, would quickly answer
a lot of questions about what is part of what, and how it all fits together.
--
aem sends...