Re Doing a Staircase.

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
So we just moved into to our house and while I am still getting used to it, I find it easier to cope with our new surroundings if I can "make something my own" currently we have a staircase I do not like. Its got berber? carpet on it I think and I really want the wood to show through. How hard is it to pull up the carpet and get the wood stairs to a put where I can paint them or stain them? I was really wanting to do white risers and paint the actual stairs black....anyone have any experience with this? I know nothing of home renovating...but I painted our brass plated fireplace door black and it turned out awesome, so now Im on a mission!!
 
Wood stairs can be a safety hazard if you just wear socks around inside your house. A good compromise is to have hardwood stained stairs with a carpet runner up the middle so you can see the wood on the sides. That is what we are doing in our new house.
 
Painted stair treads show wear very easily and can get slippery.

For a better understanding of your situation, pictures would help.

The subfloor is likely just plywood, so you'll need decent risers and treads that look nice and have a rounded edge. Its likely you'll have to remove the railing and all the spindles to install the treads, then reinstall. double check your rise at the top level and the first level as all risers should be equal distance. adding 3/4" will keep all of the risers the same but will change the rise of the first step and the last step in reference to the floors. While this doesn't seem like much, its a PITA and causes tripping and can injure someone. Its just bad practice. You'd have to adjust the stair stringers or fudge the differences to the point where all risers are the same so you don't have a 3/4" taller riser on the first step and a 3/4" shorter riser on the last step.


trim and moulding against the wall will need to be adjusted most likely as well. This may damage the wall a little, thus requiring some patch and paint work. Its relatively easy, but is additional work none the less...
 
rockcity said:
Painted stair treads show wear very easily and can get slippery.

For a better understanding of your situation, pictures would help.

The subfloor is likely just plywood, so you'll need decent risers and treads that look nice and have a rounded edge. Its likely you'll have to remove the railing and all the spindles to install the treads, then reinstall. double check your rise at the top level and the first level as all risers should be equal distance. adding 3/4" will keep all of the risers the same but will change the rise of the first step and the last step in reference to the floors. While this doesn't seem like much, its a PITA and causes tripping and can injure someone. Its just bad practice. You'd have to adjust the stair stringers or fudge the differences to the point where all risers are the same so you don't have a 3/4" taller riser on the first step and a 3/4" shorter riser on the last step.


trim and moulding against the wall will need to be adjusted most likely as well. This may damage the wall a little, thus requiring some patch and paint work. Its relatively easy, but is additional work none the less...
Click to expand...
sounds like a lot of work Im not interested in doing right now....I would like them changed out, but maybe after I tackle some other things first and get more experience.
Ill post some pictures when I get home...I was also looking into painting the railings.
 
Pulling the carpet is going to be the easiest part if you were to go back with hardwood flooring if that be the case the stair nose can cost as much as the flooring. Just installed some and it cost 75 dollars a stick and it was only enough for three steps
 
I'm w/ Rob, there is a lot more to this than you think.
The wood underneath will just be rough cut and look like shit, it's not finish quality. There is the chance it could be painted, and maybe even look nice if you skimmed over it w/ something to fill in the cracks etc.
There will be tack strips along the back corner junction between the horizontal and vertical, and possibly sides of the steps. When you rip these out it will leave holes to fill.

Also agree that you need to plan some kind of traction, especially if you paint and coat them (it'll need a good durable paint and topcoat to avoid wear).
 
It's probably shitty pine underneath.

You're looking at replacing the treads and risers... and if it's a prefab stair, maybe the stringers, too.
 
shawn said:
It's probably shitty pine underneath.

You're looking at replacing the treads and risers... and if it's a prefab stair, maybe the stringers, too.
Click to expand...

The prefab are known as a "southern staircase" and are usually good only for carpet. I've cleaned a couple up and finished them and it still looks better than carpet, even if they are just some junk poplar. The problem comes in when you decide to put in oak treads/risers there is no stringers so once the old is removed there is nothing there. Kudos to Shawn, most people don't realize this.

The option in this case is a stair cap that goes over the existing tread and 1/8" oak plywood for the riser.

My suggestion would be remove carpet and staples and poly the treads and paint the riser either brown or black. Most people go with white riser but they get very beat up from the toe of your shoe.

If you decide on new oak treads/risers put 2 coats of poly on them before you even get a saw out. After that, cut and install then lightly sand w/220 clean and coat one last time.
 
GotWood said:
The prefab are known as a "southern staircase" and are usually good only for carpet. I've cleaned a couple up and finished them and it still looks better than carpet, even if they are just some junk poplar. The problem comes in when you decide to put in oak treads/risers there is no stringers so once the old is removed there is nothing there. Kudos to Shawn, most people don't realize this.

The option in this case is a stair cap that goes over the existing tread and 1/8" oak plywood for the riser.

My suggestion would be remove carpet and staples and poly the treads and paint the riser either brown or black. Most people go with white riser but they get very beat up from the toe of your shoe.

If you decide on new oak treads/risers put 2 coats of poly on them before you even get a saw out. After that, cut and install then lightly sand w/220 clean and coat one last time.
Click to expand...



Not sure if I would listen to this guy, I hear he's a great welder. The wood thing not sure about..

J/K

I will be calling Gotwood guy for my house in the spring.
 
Lol.. That's why I'm "gotwood" and not "gotmetal"!
 
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