Roger Cook from This Old House used to say that before you start construction, you have to have some destruction. Our staircase project recently passed through the demolition phase, and we are slowly starting the rehab phase.
The demolition phase is an important part of a project, creating the foundation to support the finishes. I spent an entire weekend using paint stripper and sandpaper to remove the residual adhesive and carpet padding from the construction-grade treads and risers. These will eventually be covered, but I wanted to make sure that the new treads and risers have a clean and level surface for attachment. The final step in the 'destruction' was to cut the nose off each tread. I used a machinist square to measure the overhang of the nose, and transferred that measurement to the top of the tread. I then screwed a temporary runner to the tread to guide my circular saw.
Setting the saw depth to extend just through the tread, I made a plunge cut and followed the guide from one end of the tread to the other. The final step was to use an oscillating tool to finish the cut on each end and clean up with a chisel. It was a tricky process - if the runner was set too far back, the saw would cut into the riser, and if the runner was too far forward, the face of the tread would not be flush with the riser and require hand trimming with the chisel. For some reason, I wanted to run my fingers under the tread to make sure the saw blade was at the perfect distance, but clearly that would have been a bad idea. I hit a buried nail on the very last tread, ruining a good circular saw blade, but I was able to remove the nose from 13 riser without injury to myself or the stairs.
We were then able to start the construction phase. Every one of our projects involves paint, and this one is no different. I gave the skirtboards a light sanding, ran some painters tape, and primed and painted the skirtboards. White, of course. The white paint makes a small gap between the wall and skirtboard more noticeable, but some caulk should fix that. I could install and paint some cove or quarter-round molding, but we are installing a modern tread profile, so we will probably skip the additional molding.
We decided to use white oak treads and risers. There has been several discussions on finish selection. The skirtboard was initially going to be left unpainted, but it is now white. The current plan is to stain the risers with a whitewash finish, leave the treads natural, and seal both with polyurethane. We are working on a sample for each to see how they look, before finishing the other 13 risers and 12 treads. One step at a time, so to speak.
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