Probably not quite what was intended when the term “flexible housing” was coined, but one thing that concerns us is a “weak” step on our lower flight of stairs.
We had a visit from Nuiare some time ago to work on our temperamental eco hat, and one of the guys, who isn’t small by any means, said that we had a crack in one of our stairs, and it moved under foot. Sure enough, the step (which stood out from all others by having filler at the back of the step, against the riser for the next step) was moving and also had a small crack actually going across the board.
We, of course, reported this to the team on site at Oxley Woods and they came around to take a look and sort it out. The fix was, as you may have guessed if you’ve followed this blog at all, to use flexible filler to sort it out. We had to avoid using that stair for as long as possible.
At the time I was sceptical how filler could work on something that has to take a humans weight as they carry themselves up and down the stairs, and it appears I was right to. Recently the stair, now painted over, when “crack” and again is moving quite freely and looks terrible. It doesn’t feel right that a stair should have this much movement, especially when every other stair on two flights feels very much solid and secure.
Take a look at the photos below to see what you make of it, the paint covers the crack in the actual deck/step, but the separation between stair and riser at the back illustrates the kind of movement that’s there, and that’s just me walking up the step, not bouncing, jumping, or applying extra force.
We have been assured it’s safe, but it doesn’t feel safe, doesn’t seem good quality, looks terrible, and I’m sure the back should be secured by more than flexible filler?
