New House - Stairs Question

tucker64 · 03-05-2010, 12:50 PM

Hi there,

The house is new to me - but about 28 years old. The structure of the house is great (had a home inspection and an eco-audit) - but there are some items that need attention.

The one most perplexing at the moment are 2 steps that lead from the dining to the living room. They previous owner installed engineered hardwood in both the dining and living rooms. They took the carpet off the open stairs - but did not finish them. So I have unfinished, pine steps - see photo - with no idea how to finish them. The flooring in the dining and living room has been discontinued.

I thought about taking oak ply and staining it to place over the stair - but have no idea how to finish the nosing so I don't have a seam. The step nose is 1 and 1/2 inches high. And I would like to try to keep the steps open.

Thoughts?

Ron6519 · 03-08-2010, 01:56 PM

Why not just stain and poly the treads you have? You can put a 1/4" ply cover over the riser.
Ron

tucker64 · 03-08-2010, 03:12 PM

I thought of that - but was concerned that the pine is too soft a wood for the day to day wear and tear. There are some nicks in the wood already and I have a dog - which can be really hard on soft wood.

Ron6519 · 03-09-2010, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tucker64

I thought of that - but was concerned that the pine is too soft a wood for the day to day wear and tear. There are some nicks in the wood already and I have a dog - which can be really hard on soft wood.

Then remove the pine and replace it with oak. There are only 2 treads to replace.
Ron

jlhaslip · 03-09-2010, 09:47 AM

No way those would pass code around here.
A small child could crawl under or between the treads and get hurt real bad...