How to cover steps to Basement - DIY Chatroom

KUIPORNG · 02-05-2007, 11:58 AM

my basement stairs is like this: 12 steps, pine wood, right angle steps, the treads and risers form perfect right angle, treads do not exceed a bit like most of the steps does, this make walking down a bit not compfortable because the foot always touch a bit to the risers...

Here are the options I can think of to cover these rough woods:

1. just paint it

2. cover them with laminate

3. cover them with carpet

4. cover them with solid wood finish flooring

Do you know which way is the best way to go... Also is there a way I can fix the treads so that it exceed a bit to the risers so that it can be felt like regular steps....

Brik · 02-05-2007, 12:50 PM

You are finishing your basement right?

If finishing your basement then I would also consider the flooring at the bottom of the steps. If carpet there then just continue it up the stairs.

As for the stairs.

Paint the sides, add proper treads in pine so you have the slight overhand. Just add them to the top of the treads you have now as long as this will not cause height issues at top and bottom. if it will cause different height steps then leave well enough alone and carpet them.

Don't do laminate
Don't just paint them
Solid wood will be OK but expensive and have same issues as just regular pine treads.

You could also look into replacing the entire stair unit. You could get lucky and find one that fits at a surplus building supply auction. I have seen complete stair sets go for as little as $1 when no one else but one bidder wanted that particular set of stairs.

KUIPORNG · 02-05-2007, 12:56 PM

My basement flooring is going to be laminated....so should I still carpet it?.... Thanks for the idea of adding wider pine treads on top of the existing ones... should I go for better/harder wood other than pine? would it make a difference? or I should save my money....

Brik · 02-05-2007, 01:17 PM

Well - I am not a big fan of laminate but if that's what is going on basement floor then I would look into doing the stairs. They are going to charge you an arm and a leg for the stair parts. I think you will be able to achieve the overhang and the tread, in laminate, in one piece if your laminate supplier carries the parts. Or, it may just be stair nosing with a piece of laminate. The reason I do not like laminate on steps is because, being a floating product, it will give too much and will feel very weird on stairs. If I were doing it I would disregard the mfgs instructions if they called for a float on the stairs and glue it down. I would then also glue the nosing and nail it.

The advantage of laminate on the stairs you have is that you will not be increasing the height a lot. Increasing the height could cause issues on the top step where it transitions to the 1st floor and also cause issues on the bottom step if you have a different rise from the step to the floor (Wont have issue if you use laminate on both)

As for the pine treads. I would just do that if I were carpeting. Home cheapo and Lowes sells both pine and oak. Other wood is available elsewhere. Not sure how much more oak is than pine but I would only do that if thew were to be seen.

So, in your case, I think I would go with laminate if the supplier had the parts required. I would probably paint the risers to match your trim color choice. Paint them before installing laminate.

KUIPORNG · 02-05-2007, 02:14 PM

Thanks for the detail reply... I would do laminate on one more layer of treads then... Manufacturer requires gluing them rather than floating them on stairs... they do have parts the for the nose you are talking about, but I think I won't use them because of not strong enough I feel, I probably screw in regular metal nose after laminating... I might as well laminate the risers as well rather than painting as recommend by you....

I think I made the mistakes myself causing me need to lay an extra layer of treads, builder orginally built the stairs with treads, I added the risers myself, but I probably added it wrong by putting the risters on top of the treads below it rather than move it a bit behind and nailing them to the treads below it... didn't think of that and now cause me requires to add all these treads ... I never think of this thing so tricky.... I didn't know the treads need to exceed a little bit in order to walk on it compfortably, I was thinking making a perfect 90 degree angle is nice and clean and good support... obviously, this is wrong... well unless someone outthere tell me I didn't do it wrong... which makes me feel a bit better....