Glue mdf to underside of stairs?

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niietzshe

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Hey all.
The gaps between the tread and risers let’s lots of dust and debris through to the storage underneath the stairs. We want to stop this from happening and paint the inside to make it look a bit more finished.

Can I bond mdf directly to the underside of the tread and raisers to block them off?

Thanks
Christian

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You could trim the pegs that hang below the underside of the risers and fix a board under the stairs, you could use plasterboard.
 
Hi Bonni, thanks for the reply.
Yes I will trim the pegs anyway, but attaching a board to the risers would lose too much space, so I want to follow the profile of the stairs if possible.
 
OP,
what you propose is not a good idea.
Pinning plasterboard makes more sense after cutting off the butts of the wedges.

What is that black stuff?
 
Ok thanks all.
Foil tape wouldn’t be paintable, but maybe I’ll look for other similar solutions.

plasterboard… hmm I’ve thought of that, but think it would have too much movement. Why would mdf be a bad idea? I’m not sure what black stuff you’re on about. I think it might be just exposed brick you mean where the previous owner didn’t paint. And old plug holes. Are you thinking it’s mold? It’s not…
 
niietzshe said:
Can I bond mdf directly to the underside of the tread and raisers to block them off?
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MDF is a poor choice as a construction material (it's the building trade equivalent of blotting paper). Chipboard or plywood would be a better choice
 
I was at a manufacturing joiners the other day. When they make stair cases, they say MDF is better for the risers and threads because it doesn't shrink. Solid wood shrinks and stairs creek.

If it's just joints and cracks you want to seal, just caulk them up and paint it.
 
But they are viewing this from a manufacturing point of view. The fact is that MDF is cheap and means they don't have to bother doing quality control on their raw materials - especially important in a sector where there are less and less experienced people capable of doing it (because they are too mean to pay for them - it's a race to the bottom nowadays).

Between big jobs about 6/7 years back the director sent two of us out to replace two staircases in a house where somebody (teenage kids, we think) had allowed a top floor bath to over run - right down the MDF staircases. They had left it a week or more (parents on holiday) rather than lifting the carpets immediately to get it dry. MDF being akin to blotting paper and carpets retaining water the way they do, the upper stairs were wrecked, the lower one surface damaged on some steps.

Solid wood only shrinks if it hasn't been kilned to the correct MC for the environment it is going into - saying otherwise (by a manufacturer) is hardly an admission of capability. If they used something like Accoya MDF or plywood I'd think differently about it, but they don't
 
Bonni said:
I was at a manufacturing joiners the other day. When they make stair cases, they say MDF is better for the risers and threads because it doesn't shrink. Solid wood shrinks and stairs creek.

If it's just joints and cracks you want to seal, just caulk them up and paint it.
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that’s how all ours for loft conversions are done now.
 
The back wall looks damp - is it an external wall?

if so I’d avoid mdf.

your best bet is to use a sealant like caulk - use a Stanley knife and chisel to form a Vee where needed to create somewhere for the caulk to go, where’s there is currently almost no gap.
 
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