Our dog was happy that our stair rehab project was finally completed this weekend. Like most of our projects, it took longer than anticipated. The majority of the delay came in applying the finish to the risers and treads. Each riser received a whitewash finish and three coats of polyurethane, and the treads also received three coats of polyurethane. Each piece also received one coat of polyurethane on the back side. With fourteen risers and thirteen treads, that is a lot of pieces, so they needed to be finished in batches and then staged in a guest bedroom. Months to apply finish, and then parts of two weekends to install.
To recap, the stairs between the first and second floor were carpeted, and that carpeting was probably 40 years old. We decided to remove the carpeting and install new riser and tread boards. To prepare the stairs, I had to saw the nosing off each tread so the face of the old tread was flush to the riser. This shortened the depth of the tread, which made it hard for our dog to walk down the stairs. This had not been a problem until recently, when she decided to forsake her bed in the living room and start sleeping upstairs for some reason.
The first weekend, I set up a work area in the living room, and set my table saw and miter saw up outside to reduce the amount of sawdust in the basement. The process was relatively simple. Starting with a riser, I cut the height on the table saw, and then, using a jig, measured the length. I used the miter saw to trim the riser to length, applied adhesive, and nailed it into place. The same process was repeated for the tread. As always, there were complications. I back-beveled the risers to help get a tighter fit, but had to remember to reset the bevel back to zero for each tread, which was one more thing to keep track of. Nothing is square, so the angle between the skirtboard and riser/tread is not 90 degrees. Fortunately, the jig could be adjusted to the actual angle, and I could then adjust the angle on my miter saw.
Working outside created an unforeseen problem. My miter saw has a light that casts a shadow of the blade onto the workpiece, allowing easier adjustment. The sunlight, however, washed that shadow out. I had to prop an umbrella up to provide some shade while I set the saw angle. The second weekend, I staged the miter saw indoors and just accepted sawdust in exchange for being able to align the saw. I also underestimated the amount of adhesive I needed, getting half the stairs done the first weekend, hence the two-weekend project. That simply provided an opportunity for a trip to the hardware store and an early dinner.
The next weekend, with extra adhesive in hand, I worked my way slowly up, alternating between riser and tread. By the end, I needed to walk up and down two flights of stairs to make my cuts, since the miter saw was in the basement and the table saw outside. Most of the time, each piece needed multiple cuts as I slowly worked my way to the final length of each piece. When I was about three steps up on the first weekend, I was so focused on the workpiece that I forgot I was on stairs and managed to take a minor fall. Fortunately I only ended up with a bruised thumb, and a good lesson to pay better attention when I was higher up the stairs. The last piece finally want in, and we sat back and admired the new look. We encouraged Maxie to try the new stairs out. Up was easy, but down was still hard for her. While the stairs were wider, they were more slippery than carpet. Fortunately, Maggie had bought some rubberized tread mats. They take away from the look a bit, but they let Maxie safely travel up and down. I painted and installed some shoe molding at the base of the stairway, filled nail holes, touched up some paint, and it was a wrap.
This project nearly completes the first and second floors. We just need to replace the front and back doors, and rehab the bathroom. However, we need to tackle another big project first - the basement bathroom. This bathroom needs to be completed before we tackle the bathroom on the main floor. One step at a time.
Comments