waterproofing wood seams on exterior stairs

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duppie

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Long time lurker, first time poster.

I have an exterior stair that is exposed to the elements. It is above a concrete well, and is leaking. The threads are rotting. The stair strings appear in good shape
I plan to replace the threads and risers and build it such that the thread will extend under the risers. I will then apply waterproof, exterior paintable caulk.
A handyman friend of mine mentioned applying waterproof tape/mesh or epoxy to further waterproof the seams between thread and riser.

When I look online, I only see tape/mesh for concrete applications, not wood applications.
Anyone ever done this? If so, do you have any product recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

PS. If this is posted in wrong forum, please let me know.
 
Welcome to the site.
The stringers will likely not look so good once you remove the treads.
 
Welcome to the forum I bet it feels good to post now.

Can you post a photo of what you have? I’m having trouble picturing it. It sounds like you have stairs that the bottom side of is in a dry area and they are leaking. I would think there should be a roof like surface below the stairs and then not worry about leaks at the treads.
 
I think I'll agree with Bud on this. Doesn't really matter if you have treads under the risers or treads butting up to the risers. You'll get shrinkage from the wood you'll use and you'll get flexing of the treads, and the staircase to some extent, when people of any weight walk up or down.
If you're getting water dripping you're probably better off just diverting the water.
 
Thanks for the replies so far

I am aware of the "roof under the stairs" idea. But since I have to replace the threads and risers anyway I was hoping to get it waterproofed first. If that doesn't help, the roof under the stairs idea would be next.

I was also planning on mounting the risers on the threads, with appropriate screws, minimizing the space between riser and thread.

So back to my original question. Does anyone know of a product (tape/mesh) to waterproof wood seams?

Thanks in advance
 
Stairs flex and move, keeping water out will be next to impossible. Screwing the riser to the back of the tread will stop some flexing of the treads and give you a better chance. With treated lumber use HDG deck screws.
 
Look at the Rustoleum product that they use for deck coatings. We're roofing a house right now that has the pool deck with this stuff on it and it looks like it's held up well.
 
for yrs, we made a good living replacing neoprene strips in conc hgwys & airport pvmts w/100% silicone,,, whaddya mean silicone ain't good for exterior use ? ? ? of course it is,,, yes, it will discolor some & no, you can't paint it,,, if those are your objections, say so, ok ?
 
here's how we waterproof stairways - we seal open spaces & jnts w/caulk then we coat the stairs w/truck bedliner - containing fine aggregate just as it comes out of the can,,, IF the spaces are too large for caulk to reasonable work well, we stuff fabric/closed cell backer rod into them 1st,,, we happen to use herculiner [ http://www.ebay.com/itm/23133134523...l?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=231331345238&_rdc=1 ] maybe its not the right material but we've also got 6 jobs over 8yrs who'd disagree based on their respective performance,,, its not cheap compared to what you might find in an apron/vest/sher-wms store but it does work - BOTH in our pickups AND on stairways :beer:
 
stadry said:
here's how we waterproof stairways - we seal open spaces & jnts w/caulk then we coat the stairs w/truck bedliner - containing fine aggregate just as it comes out of the can,,, IF the spaces are too large for caulk to reasonable work well, we stuff fabric/closed cell backer rod into them 1st,,, we happen to use herculiner [ http://www.ebay.com/itm/23133134523...l?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=231331345238&_rdc=1 ] maybe its not the right material but we've also got 6 jobs over 8yrs who'd disagree based on their respective performance,,, its not cheap compared to what you might find in an apron/vest/sher-wms store but it does work - BOTH in our pickups AND on stairways :beer:
Click to expand...

SO the truckbedliner is black, no? Can it be painted in a different color?
 
stadry said:
here's how we waterproof stairways - we seal open spaces & jnts w/caulk then we coat the stairs w/truck bedliner - containing fine aggregate just as it comes out of the can,,, IF the spaces are too large for caulk to reasonable work well, we stuff fabric/closed cell backer rod into them 1st,,, we happen to use herculiner [ http://www.ebay.com/itm/23133134523...l?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=231331345238&_rdc=1 ] maybe its not the right material but we've also got 6 jobs over 8yrs who'd disagree based on their respective performance,,, its not cheap compared to what you might find in an apron/vest/sher-wms store but it does work - BOTH in our pickups AND on stairways :beer:
Click to expand...

Interesting., are you talking wood or concrete stairs?
 
that was that link's color - we buy directly from herculiner & always order grey which we then paint w/latex IF its not subject to pedestrian traffic
 
interesting you inferred that,,, on stairways, we don't paint,,, but that was a joke, right ? you're from paterson or budd lake ?
 
Only half a joke. Maybe it's just the way you wrote it, but it sounds like you have one treatment for stairs that get pedestrian use and another treatment for stairs that don't. But if humans aren't using the stairs, who does? Certainly cattle are better off on ramps, no???
 
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