Hello everybody
I want to install laminated hardwood strips on my stirs. There are a total of 15 steps. i plan on using pre made bull nose. My question is should I even attempt this project with limited wood floor laying experience. Are there any good videos or books on the subject? A company i contacted have discourage me from using laminted strips for stairs. They have suggested letting them do the work since the are setup to make stairs treads with an inch thick material with intgrated bull nose and then staining the steps to match the wood flooring. This is turning out pretty expensive.
Also should I glue the laminate strips or rent a nailer for this job and nail the strips down. The riser are to be painted white.
Suggestions please since wife wants the project started pronto.
Thanks
Replies
the problem is when you put the laminated on you will throw off the rise of the first and last steps.someone falls,hires a lawyer,they own a house with laminated steps and it's yours!
pull the treads and replace with new oak treads,you can buy them at the big box stores for about 22-25 a piece.
just curious ,what was the estimate to come out and replace the steps with oak and stain and poly? larry
you could pull the old steps and replace with a plywood that was thinner and then laminate those to maintain the correct rise.
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
$3,660.00
wow! 220.00 per tread! doug has some good ideas ,he's right that if there is a skirt board and they are captured in it they will be harder to replace.do some searching on stair gauges so that fitting them nice and tight is easier.once you have them fitted i like to remove them and finish them in the shop.bring them back in and glue and nail them down.
just yesterday i bought some treads at lowes.they are 48" wide and i only needed 37. i went through the stack and found all i needed that had a split in the first couple inches. they marked them down from 24.00 to 12.00 because of the defect.saved some money on something i'm going to throw away anyway. larryhand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Yes treads are captured. I will checkout Lowes tomorrow.Liking you suggestion. I will finalize after visit to lowes.
Regards
slimn
Correctionthe steps are carpeted.
Slimn
I have a BIL out in Denver, CO that lays laminate flooring. I've gone through a few of his jobs and seen the results of laminating steps, YIKES, kinda cheezy looking in my opinion.
I dont care for the bulnose added over the lip of the old tread with the nice little trip factor going on on top of the tread.
The first responder mentioned oak treads from the big box stores - you didnt mention what kind of wood? Is oak your choice of woods?
I cant comment on the money that the contractor wants to charge you, dont know what kind of money he needs to make.
Do you currently know how your treads are installed? Are they captured in the stringers? If not then you might be able to take the old ones up without to much effort and replacing them of course will take you a little more skill but for a competent DIY'er its not the most difficult job in the world.
If the current treads are captured in the stringers its still not imposible to do but will take a different method to get them out.
Give us some more details, pictures wouldnt hurt any either.
Doug
Doug
My stairs are carpeted. Perhaps this will give you new ideas. Oak is ok I think I can match the stain color of Bruce Kempas floor color fairly easily. If not bull nose what edge treatment you recommend?
Thanks
Regards
slim
Slimn
If not bull nose what edge treatment you recommend?
I dont have a problem with bullnose on a tread but when you apply laminate flooring to steps you have and end cap(not sure thats what its called) that goes over the laminate and hangs over the front edge of the existing tread.
That cap piece in my opinion is cheezy, also a trip hazard. You have a front lip on top that I think could be a trip hazard.
If you did opt to replace the treads its pretty easy to get the old ones out if they are captured in the stringes. Cut the tread down the middle and pry each piece out seperatly. That part shouldnt give you to much problem.
If you are going to add new treads then you can do it a couple ways; Maybe the easiest way would be to fit the new treads between the stringers, not into the dados. If you had to lift them up by slight 1/8" to hide the mortisses from the old treads that wouldnt be to hard to do. Use PL Premium to glue down the the treads, use a few nails to hold it in place as the PL sets up.
I'm not 100% sure this is the best method, I'd like to hear other opinions on it before I commited.
I think I could fit the new treads into the old mortisses but thats going to take a little more finess and I'm not sure your up to it, sounds like you realy want to go with the laminate on the existing treads?
Doug
Thats what Bruce Hardwood floors call their end cap - bullnos for stair treads. You are right they do overhang a bit not sure by howmuch. There are 2 styles, one like you describe and the other type line up flush with the laminated strip
slimn
Slimn
I would go with the one that lines up flush.
It just didnt feel right with a ridge on the top side, felt like it could cause one to trip. I didnt so maybe its just a preconcieved notion.
A bump like you'd see on the no drip counter tops wouldnt be so bad but the only bullnose edging that I saw, and maybe my BIL wasnt doing it correctly, had a distinct ridge on the top side near the front edge. I didnt feel good about that, maybe just a false feeling, its being done all the time so I assume someone gave some thought to it.
Doug
Unless your wife is planned on having you add laminate flooring atop the floors at the top and bottom of this staircase, I would advise against.
Accident waiting to happen. Even if you.....living in the home.....get used to the varying step heights, visitors and guests will not be prepared.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
He said the stairs are currently carpeted so the change in thickness may be negligable.
Are the floors they lead to carpeted as well?
Will they remain so?
So many questions. LOL
J. D. ReynoldsHome Improvements
no downstairs already laminated floor the top will change to laminated floor too. Right now it is carpeted
Just to be clear.....the downstairs had laminated added atop the existing floor?
And this is the plan for the second floor as well?
If so, than riser heights will not be changed by adding laminate to treads.
J. D. ReynoldsHome Improvements
Yes ofcourse the bottom floor is already laminated and I intend to do the upstairs also.
slimn
How thick are the hardwood strips?
I've built treads with pre-made bull-nose - the strip flooring was 3/4", and the bull-nose was solid.
I built an alignment jig so that I could glue three strips together and then the noising on top. That gave me a set of rough treads that I could rip down to the proper tread size. I then used a homemade stair gauge (like the ones advertised in FH) to get the exact size of each) to figure out the size of each tread, scribed that onto the tread with a knife, and cut with my compound miter.
Each of the treads additionally needed a thickness of 3/4" ply to make sure the rise was the same for each tread.
I will note that getting stairs that look good is pretty painstaking work if you aren't experienced.
3/8" thick. bullnose is 1/2"
The flooring company is correct in saying that having the trads made as it really does look much nicer. You are correct that the price of these treads are really high. Using the manufactured laminate floor with the supplied nosings isn't wrong. It just isn't real pretty.
Use construction adhesive to secure the laminate and the nosing. You can use a couple finishing nails on the ends to hold it in place while the ahesive sets. It also doesn't hurt to set heavy weights to help keep the nosing in place.
And lastly, .....go for it. Don't let anyone try to intimidate you. You're not landing airplanes here. A trained monkey can install laminate flooring. I know I've hired a few of them. Besides, You have a whole pile of guys here willing to guide you along.
Dave
I wanted to hear this fellow
Thanks for encouragement
the rise has to be within 3/8 of a inch on all 15 treads,if not and somebody falls 20 years from now you are liable. i know a guy that hada place that was about 35 years old. visitor fell broke there wrist and hired a lawyer. they actually sent a survey crew out to measure the cement steps,one was off 3/4 of a inch. his insurance company settled out of court for 80k. i now pay attention to the rise of steps. larryhand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
I had the same idea when my mother in law wanted a stair make over. I used a good grade laminate thin as posible (she picked it out) and i made the stair nose from 3/4 oak boards (from Home Depot) matched with stain. Used construction adhesive and brad gun.
It's been there for a year and i am surprised how well it is holding up and looks. These stairs get a LOT of traffic. I haven't tried it for a customer but I think there would be no problems.