Stair Redo

HandyHails

I am about to finish a project of bamboo flooring. My finish carpentry skills are pretty basic. Mostly moldings and such. The home owner has asked me to continue the bamboo up the stairs. Checking, I found treads in the same material.

I've done stairs for decks and installed prefab, but never have I done this. I already leveled w/ the home owner and told her I've never done it, but if she let's me do it, I'll give her a great deal on the labor so next time I'll have some experience to fall back on. Judging by the quality of the flooring, she says she has faith in me to get it done right. This is also the second time in as many months someone has asked me about wrapping the steps in material to match the flooring.

So I have a few questions. Firstly, should I try to tackle this sort of project on a professional basis without having done it before? The treads are tucked into the stringers. Do I sawzall them out to replace w/ the new? I'm thinking I should be able to cut the treads about 3/4 to 1" longer than the inside measurement then slide in one side into the pocket and slide back to fill the gap. Also should I tear out the risers, or just install the flooring on top of them?

This is a 115 year old home and I'm fairly certain I'm gonna want to sure up the steps in places where they are flexing and moving. Any tutorials you know of would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,

Josh

irockwithdirt

SOUNDS to me like your dealing with routed skirtboards. Thing is your not going to know exactly what your dealing with until you get into it. Could end up in a mess you don't want to be in. Are ya feelin lucky today :p

paul100

We just did this on a job. It was also bamboo. The flooring we used was available in risers and treads. We left the original treads and risers in place. We did cut the nosings off of the original treads. I was able to cut the new risers and treads to fit exactly over the old ones. Some glue and minimul amount of nails made it look like it has been there for ever.

HandyHails

O.K. so you just wrapped them? If you don't mind me asking, what did you use to cut the nosings? Also did the bamboo continue at the top of the steps? If not, how did you blend it onto that first step coming down?

Thanks Paul

paul100

For the nosings it wasnt important to get a perfect cut since it would all be covered. I got it as flush as possible by using a circular saw and a chisel for the ends. The bamboo did continue on the top of the steps. The brand of bamboo we used had available a nose edging so it was pretty easy to continue the bamboo.

HandyHails

Thanks. My job doesn't want the bamboo at the top of the stairs. Any suggestions as to how I could make a smooth start?

Deicide1

Better hope that rise is still in code and that no one ever gets hurt on it and sues you...or your insurance company, if you have one.

irockwithdirt

The original poster said the treads went into a pocket in the skirtboard. IF you cut the nose off and set a new tread on top, what ya gonna do about the void where the tread was routed into the skirt?

And also as stated above, you'll be changing your rises. Will prolly be a code violation.

HandyHails

If each of the treads is overlaid w/ 5/8" flooring, and the flooring on the first floor is being raised 5/8", than the risers will remain exactly the same as they are right now. The only difference will be on the last step going up since the hardwood will not continue into the hallway. Or am I missing something here?

The steps are old style and very steep. Too steep to be honest. But I figure as long as I'm not going to change the riser height, than I should be O.K.

Sooner Pesek

Yes, the rise will remain the same-EXCEPT the top step.
Will not be in code.
Can you make a tread nosing for the top landing to get back to original riser height.


Roger

__________________
"SKILLED Carpenters aren't CHEAP , CHEAP Carpenters aren't SKILLED " --- saw this on a t-shirt a while back ---

paul100

Yes we do have insurance. The rise stayed the same on all steps since we did the floor at the bottom of the steps and at the top, so nothign changed.

paul100

As i mentioned earlier the rise stayed the same since we did the floor above and below the steps.

When we did the steps on our job, the steps were also routed in to the skirt boards. The skirts were painted white and the homeowner did not want that anymore. So we laminated the skirts with a hardwood plywood that was installed after the nosing was removed and before we installed the new treads and risers. Then a molding was made to cover the top of the plywood and the skirts.

Deicide1

I know, that's what I was getting at. I imagine the material he put on top of the treads was over 3/8'' which is the maximum a rise can be out on a set of stairs built here.

Deicide1

Yes, but you'll still be out on the top step rise. Which means it is WRONG.

Deicide1

Another thing for you guys to think about...


You added 5/8'' material to the rise, is that rise now above the 8 1/4'' max rise (may be different in your area).

irockwithdirt

The first post said he found bamboo treads, now we're using strip flooring and landing tread to cover the treads..............then cut reverse stringers to cover the skirts. Don't mean to come off as a jerk, but sounds like a cobbled together mess to me. Still gonne be multiple species of wood.

paul100

You are reading from two different people. I never said I used strip flooring for the treads.. That was someone else. I am not the original poster. I was able to get solid bamboo treads and skirt risers. Yes I did cut the reverse stringers to cover the skirts out of a 1/4" hardwood plywood. It was stained to match the bamboo. It actually came out pretty close. You wouod really have to look close to see that it was not bamboo. Let me ask you this, how would you of dealt with white stringers when the homeowner wanted stringers that was stained and looked like bamboo? The treads were already only 33" wide so we didnt want to use solid bamboo to cover the stringers since then the steps would of ended up being only 31.5.

paul100

How do you figure that anyone added 5/8" to the rise? If you add a tread to every step and also cover the landings with new flooring then the rise stays the same. All of my risers ended up being 7 3/4" when we got done.

Sooner Pesek

I'm pretty sure that Decide1 figured 5/8" because that is what the OP stated.

OP also stated that he added material to all treads EXCEPT the top landing(Which is a tread), therefore the difference is 5/8"---NOT IN CODE!

One problem here is we have 2 posters talking about 2 separate jobs.

Roger

__________________
"SKILLED Carpenters aren't CHEAP , CHEAP Carpenters aren't SKILLED " --- saw this on a t-shirt a while back ---

Deicide1

He said that the flooring at the top of the stairs will not be touched. That right there puts the rise out of code.