Got schooled on a stair build in a 1920s Philly row home

I was fitting the last tread and the homeowner, an old guy who used to be a shipwright, just said 'you're fighting the wood, let it show you where it wants to sit'. I stopped forcing it, shaved a tiny bit off the back edge, and it dropped in perfect. Anyone ever have a client drop a piece of advice that just clicked like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_terry14d ago

Let it show you where it wants to sit"... my grandpa said the same thing about old floorboards.

jordan_webb14d ago

Grandpa wisdom is cool and all, but it's just a floorboard.

alice_hart12d ago

Okay but "let it show you where it wants to sit" feels like a lot for a piece of wood. It's a floorboard, not a pet. Sometimes a squeak is just a loose nail, you know? We don't need to find a deeper meaning in every little house noise.