Q.The stairs in my home are in sad shape. One stair tread is cracked and others are scratched from years of abuse. I know I can hide the problem with carpeting, but that's not really my style. What's ...

Jeff Somers is a freelancer who has been writing about writing, books, personal finance, and home maintenance since 2012. When not writing, Jeff spends his free time fixing up his old house. He has ...

Amateur carpenters who have laid out the cuts in a stair stringer (the zig-zag structural support for the steps) know the queasy feeling that bubbles up at the prospect of this job. There’s the simple ...