We had stairs installed in August, but the landing oak seems to be splitting at its glued joint and looks unsightly. The fabricators have been out, tried to reinforce from below and filled the joints. Now, two months later, two planks have opened up on the landing! The house was refurbished and of course central heating switched on, but should the landing be opening up like this? Shouldn't it be more rigid? It looks unsightly.
Wood – Oak stair landing joints splitting
hardwood-floorstairs
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The top step is not a tread. It's flooring. You buy the stair nose as part of your flooring purchase, not the stairway build. Most manufacturers of hardwood will provide a matching stair nose, but you may have to order it.
Note that the stair nose is a groove. You can also purchase a double-tongue that will slip in that groove converting it to a tongue should you need to.
Yep, doing another pair of sticks under the landing where the chimney used to be is quite enough. Slip a galvanized plate under the existing & new leg to prevent moisture wicking. With your new sticks, anchor the first stick to the cinder block, even with just Molly or Mushroom Head Bolts before attaching the other stick.
This will avoid any possible future racking or pull-away type movements. Not that it would, but you can also avoid the anchors by doing an X-brace of sticks between the then 2 supporting legs or posts, so you don't make any holes in the walls.
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Best Answer
Due to climate changes in your house (moisture and heat fluctuations) and the natural tendency for wood to be effected from them, wood will move. The drier and more unsealed the wood is the more it will swell and contract. Also depending on how it was milled and what section of the tree it was cut from will determine how much moisture it can absorb and release.
You are correct in surmising that the landing shouldn't be splitting. Although wood can't be prevented from moving altogether there are steps that can account for and limit this movement. When constructing a project made from wood the planks moisture level should be around 15%. If they are to used indoors with a central heating system an even lower level of 11% should be used. A kiln is used to get this final moisture level.
If the landing was installed using strip (1 1/2-2 inch wide) flooring that was milled with a tongue and groove the tongue should be nailed to the sub floor and into the floor joists if possible. If the boards are wider than 4-6 inches they should be installed in such a way that the fastener keeps them flat but can also allow for slight shifting. This is sometimes accomplished by oval screw holes from underneath.
If the board split is slight epoxy filler/adhesive can be color matched to the wood species to make the patch less noticeable. I would be hesitant to use any other type of filler for a floor patch since the nature of the wood is to move the patch will eventually get pushed loose.