Rebuilt steps

[Rogueknight]

Another project done on this trailer

So the previous owners puppy chewed the carpet on the stairs. So they ripped the carpet off (and didn’t put steps back together right they had no support in the back of the first step). Anyway both steps had some give to them and my mother isn’t a small woman and I was concerned about safety. So when I bought it they had stapled a runner carpet on the steps. Was not a good job.
So I began and ripped off the bad carpet job. What do I find a worse tile job lol. They got cheap stick on tiles and tried putting them on plywood (doesn’t stick if you didn’t know). And it was horrible looked like a kindergartner collage. Not a single straight line lol it was ugly. So out they went.
Now I can see the factory steps and see the lack of support in the back of the first step causing it to give when your step on it. Looking at it I was still not happy. I took the steps apart to find they were made out of 1/4 inch plywood. I shook my head and said he’ll no.
So I rebuilt the steps. I used 1 inch tread boards and 3/4 risers. Then I decide to use some trim to make it look better.
I am disabled so it takes me a while to do things and these steps took me a bit. I wanted hardwood steps, no carpet. This meant I would have to learn how to stain lol.
So I cut the pieces for the main steps. And then used poly stain. Couple times I had to sand it back off and redo it because I didn’t like it. And it was funny cutting boards cause I would pick a part of the bird that had knots or cool patterns in the wood. Grain to give it character. And I put about 4-5 coats of stain on each piece.
Then I put the pieces in place and used a finish nailer to anchor them down. I had stained the trim boards though I had not cut them yet. I taped off the steps and stained again. Then I used on wood filler to do some minor filling. Then I cut trim and stained it. Then it was putting the trim on. Once the trim was in I used wood filler to fill in tops of nail holes. Then with it all together it was time to stain again.
And now it is finally done. It does take a lot of time and I learned a lot. Put the poly stain on in light coats. Poly stain is a pain to sand off. Something I didn’t know all sandpaper is not equal. I had some gator sandpaper from Walmart 60 grit. When I had to sand off poly stain it absolutely sucked. I was using electric hand sanders. Sheets didn’t last but a couple min and was not standing effectively. Then I had some 3m 100 grit purple sandpaper. Not this sandpaper worked GREAT. It may have been a finer grit but it was much more effective. I learned all sand paper is not equal. I will be using. 3m sandpaper from now on.
So anyway for the project I am very happy with how the steps came out. And they are so much sturdier than what was originally made.
So here are before and after pictures and I am very proud of how they came out.