Staircases come in many varieties and can serve an assortment of purposes. They can be built and positioned to become the focal feature of an entryway or have a structural feature that stands out on a deck, or they can simply be a safe and secure way to transverse elevations.
Whatever your intentions are for your staircases, there are a few things to keep in mind to ensure they remain safe and secure. Typical Northern Virginia stair repair, upgrade and replacement services our experienced team can deliver include pressure washing, maintenance, baluster replacement, rail replacement, and riser or tread replacement.
Stringer Replacement
Staircases consist of a few basic parts. Stringers are the boards underneath steps that support a staircase. There are typically two to three stringers underneath the structure, but can be more depending on the width of the treads. After years of wear and tear and exposure to a variety of weather conditions, stringers will eventually weaken, rot, or crack and when that happens, it's time to call our team of professional handymen for Northern Virginia stair repair. If the stringers are exposed, they can easily be replaced.
If the staircase is indoors, stringers may be covered with drywall. In this case, the drywall will be removed to gain access to the stringers. The stringers will be replaced and then the drywall will be reinstalled.
Riser Replacement
Risers are the vertical sections of each step. On some staircases the risers are open. Unfortunately, stairs that have open risers can be considered unsafe in that small children, animals, or items can slip through the risers, but this problem can be corrected by a skilled Northern Virginia stair repair handyman.
Risers can blend in and remain the same color and texture as the rest of the stairs or they can have a varied surface or color. This variation can be done to assist individuals that have difficulty with depth perception to distinguish the difference more easily between each step. The color variation can also be a way of creating a focal point on the stairs. As you can see on the interior staircase picture above, our professional Northern Virginia stair repair technicians painted the risers white to contrast with the hardwood color of the treads.
Tread Replacement
Treads are the next portion of a staircase. They are the part of a staircase where your foot lands when you're going up or down. Treads come in a variety of sizes and textures, and they can be wood, cement, brick, laminate, carpet and whatever else you can think of to blend in or stand out. Over years of use, treads can become soft or spongy or cause irritating squeaky stairs.
Minor damage such as scratches or peeling wood stain can be resolved with Northern Virginia stair repair strategies, but for more serious damage such as wood rot or broken stair treads, it is best to replace individual treads. In many cases, the treads are the only damaged part of the overall structure because they take the most wear and tear abuse over the years, so you likely won't need to have the entire structure replaced. Your handyman can simply remove and replace the treads to restore your staircase to like-new condition.
Rail Replacement
Banisters and handrails essentially provide a handle to grab to steady or balance yourself when walking up or down the stairs. These railings can become rotted or loose from repeated use, weather exposure, or abuse and cause you to need a new handrail installation.
If you grab on to your railing and it shifts or wobbles under your hand, that's a bad sign. It exists to help steady you, and it can't do that if it's not stable and steady itself. Wood rot is a major Northern Virginia stair repair problem for wooden rails on outdoor stairs, because wood rot is a variety of decay that afflicts timber that has an elevated moisture content and outdoor structures are exposed to rain, snow and humidity.
Wood rot causes timber to soften and crumble apart. In this video and the photos below, you can see how badly the front step rail was affected by wood rot at this McLean, VA home. The damage is unattractive, but more importantly, it causes a hazard that could lead to injury. Wood rot can also spread to other parts of your home if it's not removed.
Rail Repair and Installation
Our Northern Virginia stair repair team also receives service requests to re-secure existing handrails or install a second handrail. Our service professionals will typically recommend a second handrail installation for homes where an elderly person with mobility challenges wants to age in place safely and comfortably. Most individuals have a strong arm or hand and a weak arm or hand or are right or left hand dominant. By installing a handrail on both sides of the staircase, this assures that an individual who is traversing up or down the stairs will always be able to hold onto a handrail with their dominant hand.
