How do I fix a stair nosing that has come loose?

Nosing is the projecting front edge of a tread, and on a carpeted or covered stair there is often an additional strip covering it. Every foot that uses the stair lands within a couple of centimetres of it, so it takes wear, impact and repeated flexing, which is why it is the first component to fail.

Safety

Step by step

1. Identify what you actually have.The moulded front edge of a solid timber tread, a separate nosing moulding pinned to the tread, or a metal or plastic edge strip over a covering. All three are called the nosing and all three fail differently.
2. For a timber nosing, check whether it has split or come unglued.A clean separation along a glue line can be reglued and cramped. A split through the timber usually needs the section replacing, because a repaired split at the front edge of a tread is carrying load.
3. Clean the joint before regluing.Old glue, polish and dust all prevent a new bond. Scrape the mating faces back to clean timber.
4. Cramp it properly while the glue sets.The awkward part on a stair. Sash cramps, wedges against the riser above, or weights — whatever holds it tight and square without marking the timber.
5. Refix an applied moulding into sound timber.The original pins have usually enlarged their holes. Use new fixing positions rather than the old ones, and glue as well as pin.
6. Deal with a lifting edge strip immediately.A metal or plastic strip lifting at one end catches feet and is the most direct trip hazard on the stair. Refix into sound material or take it off entirely, but do not leave it half attached.
7. Punch fixings below the surface and fill.Any pin head standing proud on a nosing will be caught by a shoe or a vacuum and will work its way out again.
8. Check the rest of the flight while you are there.Nosings fail for shared reasons — age, wear, the same original workmanship — so if one has gone, look at the others rather than waiting for each to fail in turn.

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