I wanted to hear you say I could skirt my way around it, but as I thought, I have to take it down. Where that paint has come off, it looks like MDF. Width if gap varies in each step. I rip each tread ahead of time by adding 1" to the run of your steps. The most popular hardwoods used for skirtboards are oak, cherry, and walnut but you need to match the wood of your stairs to that of the skirt board. How-Where should I end this partial skirt-board at the stair? Along the same lines make sure you presand the treads and risers - you'll have scuffs and marks to sand off, but you don't want to have to sand everything in place. A stair tread jig (which you can make) will copy the distance and the quirks of the opening between the skirtboards. I can rip apart a bathroom and have it put back together in 2-3 days and it might take me the same amount of time to make a couple of long stair skirts. Shaddy has also worked as a newspaper reporter and writer, and as a contributing writer for Bicycling Magazine. The gaps allow for absorbing structural movements. Thankfully, the nosing overhung the ends by 1-1/4 inches. (I have more wood to re-cut a new piece if need be), Top of stairs wood tread to carpet transition level issue. There is already a skirt on both sides of the stairs as well. The first type is the one between the stairs and the wall adjoining the stairs. An instance when you would want a skirt board will be if your home has the same baseboard trim throughout the house. Remove the skirt board from the wall. The size of the gap you leave between decking boards can vary depending on the species of wood you choose, the moisture level, and the humidity and temperature in the climate you are installing in. Next make sure of your overhangs top and bottom. Also, be aware that paint can be very slippery, especially glossy paints. The modal window is a 'site map' of the most critical areas of the site. Ideally I'd like to paint them (I don't think they are real wood) but there are gaps on both sideshow do I go about filling these gaps? View unanswered posts | View active topics. rev2023.3.3.43278. Based on this picture, I would agree that they're not "real" wood. This is useful if you need a narrower width for your skirting, such as 5/8 or 1/2. Is it correct to use "the" before "materials used in making buildings are". The alternative to a skirt board is often baseboards that run along each tread and rise according to the shape of the stairs. Since our rise is 7-1/4", we just used 1x8 boards, 2) Do I use glue on the ends and glue them to the skirt? I square up and shim the skirt boards before I cut any treads or risers. The most popular size for a skirt board is a 1x10 board. Skirt boards give a finished neat appearance to stairs. I screw the bottom back of the riser to the tread as I work my way up-that joint will never open. The rough treads under the carpets were 2x10 pine. The length depends on how long the staircase is, and the thickness also depends on your existing baseboard thickness but never less than 5/8. Block vs Poured Foundation: Whats the Difference? Trying to understand how to get this basic Fourier Series. and what should be expected as "normal". The skirt boards were notched around the stairs at some point leaving 1/4"-1/2" gaps. There should not be any gap at all, especially when when you have oak meeting oak. I will not have carpet on the stairs. This is by far the easiest and most accurate way to install a stair skirt board. Steps to Install Skirt Board If the gaps are not too severe, consider using colored caulk to cover them. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? 2x10s are increasingly being replaced by Engineered Joists. You should also have some bone dry tapered pine shims - cedar shims are too soft for anything useful and most times they are far from dry. Use the prybar to pry the tread slightly away from the riser. Glued (PL adhesive) and screwed to the stringers and risers should cushion those joints, which should keep up/down movement to a minimum if the stringers don't move. While there are several ways to install stair skirt boards and the exact steps depend on the conditions under which you are building, I intend to give a general overview of stair skirt board installation here. Some home reno stores offer oak project pieces, but its doubtful youll find a piece of hardwood skirting that will be long enough for your stairs. If you get a tread and riser to fit perfectly with no gap then put in the next pair very tight it will push the skirt out creating a gap where there wasn't one before on the already installed tread and riser. Post subject: Re: gaps between solid treads & skirt boards. MDF and softwood are ideal for painting, while hardwood can be finished to match hardwood stair treads. Is the skirt board supposed to cover the gap between the tread and the wall? If there is any more gaps you can fill with wood putty. To install a skirt board before the stairs, follow these steps: If you dont prefer the look of a stair skirt, or you have a non-traditional stairway, then you have a handful of other options. The treads are housed so I can't pull them up easily to fill the gaps. Specializing in hardwood furniture, trim carpentry, cabinets, home improvement and architectural millwork, Wade Shaddy has worked in homebuilding since 1972. I would never leave a gap either on the tread or the riser where it meets the skirtboard. Rather, you simply measure, cut each end, and nail to the finished wall. All of your stairs wont be the exact same measurements, walls are not perfectly flat One of the things that I source out now for sure. Baseboards like these are much more labor-intensive and can be tricky to get right due to the large number of miter cuts involved. Then, youll have to make the cuts and a simple skill saw wont be enough. Answer (1 of 5): Skirting boards or baseboards are actually used to cover the gaps between the floor and wall. When dry fitting the treads against the skirt board there is an uneven gap between the end of the tread and the face of the skirt board on every step, it varies between 1/16" and 1/8" depending on which step you are looking at. How do you fill the gap between stair tread and riser? They now want us to paint the risers and skirt boards. Make sure baseboards on the lower and upper floors are completed before you install skirt boards as you need to trim the ends of your skirt board to match the baseboards. So the treads arrived 1 inch short with pre-applied nosings. Crypto I'll have to use stainable/paintable filler because I was planning on staining the treads and painting the risers white. If you're retrofitting the trim for existing stairs in your house, then baseboard trims make a lot of sense as they don't need a gap between the wall and the stair for installation. Fascia boards are low maintenance with no sanding, staining or painting required. Cove molding also comes in different sizes, but the most widely used is 3/4- by 3/4-inch. I will also planon shimming the risers up so they meet the bottom of each tread evenly (glue and finish nail in place) thanI will also screw the risers into the back of the tread below. Can I meet this goal by installing the skirt board over the installed stair treads? They are bone dry maple right at 1/16" thick and 3/4" wide. Without the skirt board, the drywall adjoining the stairs could suffer damage from shoes especially if there's a lot of traffic on the stairs. Please note Fig. I'm sorry to say its your call. If you are ready to embark on a stair skirt board, your next question will be what size lumber to use. Having your stairs already assembled helps when installing a skirt board. I did this on a set of stairs that I built a few years back, and the results were acceptable. Drop me a line or comment below! Then I can use a gap-filling compound to fill in the gap between the treads/risers and the skirt board. At first my wife loved the new hardwoods. A skirt board is a large piece of wood or synthetic material that runs along the base of the wall alongside the stairs. Problems occur due to complex angles, pieces that are not cut perfectly square or pieces that need angles cut on them. WeekendBuilds.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. The order you need to follow here is stringers, painting of wall, fixing skirt board and lastly installation of treads and rises. There are situations where a stair is curved or spirals. What goes between stairs and wall? Anything less than 1 inch will make it difficult to merge with the other baseboards. As for the length of the risers and treads it's easier said than done - definitely use a stair jig! Compress the trigger and begin pulling the gun slowly backward along the joint, creating a thin, smooth line of caulk. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? The steps are split-entry style and skirtboards butt up to drywall on both sides. IMO if you want a tight-looking fit, make housed stringers. Any minor gap between the cut notch and skirt is shimmed tight. The wood is solid oak. It doesn't look like it takes much gap width for the human eye to tell at least not when your looking for something. You don't want gaps of any kind on the ends of the treads or risers - quarter round doesn't bend around the tread nose! It doesn't look like it takes much gap width for the human eye to tell at least not when your looking for something. If the gap is more than 1/4 inch or you just want a more substantial look, move up to 1/2- by 1/2-inch, or even 3/4- by 3/4-inch. Could you clear things up? Even very rough plywood can be sanded lightly and painted for a finished look. Is there a better way? A good solution in such a case is to use a flexible material like vinyl or PVC as the skirt board. The total length of the board depends on the number of steps in your stair. Those look like poplar skirt boards, so I am assuming that those areas will be painted. You need an accurately measured uniform gap between the drywall and the stairs for installing a skirt board. Sometimes you got to educate people ---even if it's your own spouse!! If you have any other stair skirting alternatives or differing versions about how to install a stair skirt, then Id love to hear them. 2023 The Taunton Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Get sleeper installation tips. Aluminium-Look Illuminated Running Boards with Rubber Studs; AMG Bodystyling - Front and Rear Aprons - Side Skirts in Polished Aluminium . MDF and softwood are used if the skirting board is to be painted. There are several important things you need to consider before you have a skirt board for your stairs. The second type is one that runs on the outside of the stairs along the stairs stringer. So, you might be able to hide some of that with white caulking, and the skirt board paint. The payment we receive may vary between . It'll blend into the joint and be invisible and will just look like the shadow gap that was there before. So the actual tread depth was9 inches (no overhang), I am replacing the rough treads with oak and factoring in a 1 inch overhang. In case of damage, hardwood skirting can easily be fixed by sanding or replacing at the damaged location. Having skirtboards installed first makes cuts and measurements for treads and rise much easier. If you intend to paint or stain, then softwood can be a perfect choice for a skirt board. One of the benefits of plywood for stair skirting is that you can purchase birch, oak, or maple plywood and stain it instead of painting. You could also make your skirt board higher and use the skirt as the trim, connecting to the trim at the top and bottom of your stairs. gap between tread and skirt boardmarc d'amelio house address. June 22, 2022; Posted by . Vinyl strips are a simple and a purely decorative option when you want to trim your stairs. Those gaps are there by design. I would never guarantee that the stairs wouldn't squeek-. The skirts take a little bit of thought and layout,but the end result is well worth the effort. My plan of attack was to shim between the treads and stringers to ensure that they were well-supported. I was under the impression these where A set of boxed stairs. Of course you may need more than one . He used construction adhesive and nailed the treads and screwed the risers into the treads. Shaddy began publishing in various magazines in 1992, and published a novel, Dark Canyon, in 2008. Well also investigate alternatives to stair skirts for those looking for a non-traditional finished stair appearance. Question, how much gap width is too much? There's also no way to repair PVC skirtboards if they break. PVC is a good choice when you want extreme resistance to the elements for your skirt board. After cutting the base transitions, it's time to nail the skirt in place. Place the skirt against the wall, with the cut end flush against the floor. 1 x 12 x 12' TRANSCEND LINEAGE COLORS: Ceramic tile caulking, matches color and texture of tile grout but it is flexible. If the gap is more than 1/4 inch or you just want a more substantial look, move up to 1/2- by 1/2-inch, or even 3/4- by 3/4-inch. I am beginning my stair project (converting carpeted stairs to oak treads and risers) and have removed the old pine skirts and replaced with oak skirts that I finished before installing. Was looking at molding options but didn't know how to fit around curved edge of the tread, as well saw on several DIY sites that molding is a sign of poor carpentry. 1) When cutting the treads and risers to fit between the skirts, do I want a really tight fit or should there be a small gap to allow for some movement? The dimensions should be no less than 9-1/2 wide because the skirt must sit at least 1-1/2 above the nosing of the stairs. Builders Advocate: An Interview With Viewrail, Podcast 543: Affordable Flooring, Replacing Replacement Windows, and Low-Flow Fans, Podcast 537: Members-only AftershowConversation With Builder Sam Friesen, Balancing Density and Privacy in Los Angeles, Plus, get an extra 20% off with code GIFT20, Fine Homebuilding Issue #313 Online Highlights, The Fine Homebuilding Interview: James Metoyer, 10 Steps to Install Crown Molding on Cabinets, Choosing the Right Construction Tape for the Job, Expert insights on techniques and principles. The stringers are the diagonal pieces of wood that the treads and risers butt into on the sides. What Gary said about existing skirtboards is exactly right, they're never square and a real pain to deal with installers just do the best they can when dealing with somebody else's work. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. The risers should be the same color as all the trim. Gaps occur on stair treads where the riser meets the tread. Many people will find that removing their existing stairs to install a skirting board isnt an option, in which case youll have to attach it over the existing stairs. lifeguard air ambulance new mexico hassan has plastic surgery hassan has plastic surgery First, youll have to precisely measure the rise, run and stair nosing cuts for each stair. Make a horizontal line from the top of the bottom tread across your skirt then remove the skirt from the wall. This line gets cut with a circular saw. If you don't want to do that, leave a tiny gap (1/32" is enough) and supercarefully apply and wipe a bead of clear sealant to the joints, so it doesn't show as open. Could I close the risers without problems? A curtail is a type of decorative step used at the bottom of the staircase. I will be using PL400 on the stringers and Tightbond glue on the back open grans of the tread where it will meet the riser, if I am to glue the tread and riser ends to the skirt, Im assuming I would use the Tightbond glue as its open grain.