Replacing carpeted basement stairs

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

We are in the middle of renovating a basement room into a home theater. Old carpet gone, walls patched and primed/painted, wood trim (most of it) back up.....and LOML has indicated she now wants to nix the carpeting on the stairs and replace with oak. I just need to get the bottom riser on so the carpet guys can complete the install (next week), and the rest of the work on the stairs can be done after.

There are currently no skirts on either side, and we think we will keep that look and just butt the treads against the drywall.

I'd like input on a few items though....

- Current stairs are 2x10 nailed onto 3 stringers. I see no reason to remove these (attach new risers and treads on top of existing with glue and nails). I do need to verify what this will do to the first & last steps' height. Any thoughts or suggestions otherwise?

- tread thickness? Assuming I'm going over existing parts, I would think any thickness treads (1/2" or 3/4") would be OK.

- Which direction? I've seen descriptions of doing the stairs from the bottom up (a tread going on top of previously installed riser), and other descriptions to go top-down (install each riser up against previously installed tread).

- The stairs are 4 steps down to a landing, then another 7 steps to the bottom. I'll do the landing in hw flooring. Should the riser on the step going up sit on top of the landing, or should the flooring butt right up against that riser?


I do plan on removing existing carpet, knocking off the stair nosing, and other general cleanups before the new carpet is installed, so sawdust can be cleaned up. I also will most likely add more screws the the existing stair parts to make sure they are nice and snug. I do not have access to underneath the stairs (storage area underneath was drywalled and plastered). I'll likely prefinish (stain and poly) the treads and risers before fitting/installing, so only minor touchup will be required after installation.

did I miss anything? thoughts or suggestions are most welcome!

[Ben Franz]

John - a couple of thoughts:

Putting new treads on top of the existing 2x10 will increase the rise of the bottom tread by (new tread thickness - new basement floor thickness) and DECREASE the top rise by the new tread thickness. Assuming your stairs now meet building code (which, IIRC, allows only 1/4" tread to tread variance) the new stair will be out of compliance and have built in trip hazards. Even if no permits are involved, a sharp property inspector might catch this on resale, causing a downstream issue. The carpet thickness is being replaced by the tread thickness so it's not quite this definitive and I'm not sure how this affects the code issues.

A possible work-around is to use a thin skin on the tread, perhaps a prefinished flooring product. This would minimize the problem but probably not eliminate it.

Working bottom up is fine. If the riser sits on top of the tread below, any gap is hidden by the downward sight angle. Hardwood stair risers are sometimes dadoed into the bottom of the tread above to hide that seam.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Thanks. I will be looking @ the stair height at the top and bottom to see what an additional tread thickness will do.

[Rob Steffeck]

Assuming your stairs now meet building code (which, IIRC, allows only 1/4" tread to tread variance) the new stair will be out of compliance and have built in trip hazards.

You point is correct, however its 3/8", not 1/4". 2006 IRC states:

[311.5.3.1] The greatest riser height within any flight of stairs shall not exceed the smallest by more than 3/8" inch (9.5mm).

-and-

[311.5.3.2] The greatest tread depth within any flight of stairs shall not exceed the smallest by more than 3/8" inch (9.5mm).

Max riser height is 7 3/4". Min tread depth of 10".

This assumes your municipality uses 2006 IRC without change.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

[311.5.3.2] The greatest tread depth within any flight of stairs shall not exceed the smallest by more than 3/8" inch (9.5mm).

Max riser height is 7 3/4". Min tread depth of 10".

Thanks - good info. The house was built in 1996, so I am extremely curious as to how the current stairs (with carpet) follow these requirements. The builder was known to not pay attention to some details....

does the 10" include any overhang, or is that the horizontal distance riser-to-riser?

[Rob Steffeck]

does the 10" include any overhang, or is that the horizontal distance riser-to-riser?

The full wording from 2006 IRC is:

The tread depth shall be measured horizontally between the vertical planes of the foremost projection of adjacent treads and at a right angle to the tread's leading edge.

Clear as mud, right?

Draw a vertical plane from the nose of the higher tread on to the lower tread. Now measure that point to the nose of the lower tread. In short, any part of the tread that is obscured by the upper tread, does not count toward usable tread depth.

[Ben Hatcher]

I've never been a fan of wood steps. They've slippery, get dinged up easilly, and bounce around sound in ways that wouldn't be pleasing in a home theater.

That said, if I were doomed to this same project, I would trim off the bull nose of my exisiting treads and create a cap from 1/4 on the top and some square 5/4 glued under it to make the new bull nose/lip to retain the new risers.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

I've never been a fan of wood steps. They've slippery, get dinged up easilly, and bounce around sound in ways that wouldn't be pleasing in a home theater.

That said, if I were doomed to this same project, I would trim off the bull nose of my exisiting treads and create a cap from 1/4 on the top and some square 5/4 glued under it to make the new bull nose/lip to retain the new risers.

I didn't mean to doom anyone to anything

We are far from audiophiles, so our idea of a home theater is comfy seating, a decent sound system and big tv. The kids are probably going to enjoy it more than we will anyways ...

I like the cap/nose idea, to keep the stairs consistent. looks like I have some measuring to do....

[Ben Hatcher]

I didn't mean to doom anyone to anything

We are far from audiophiles, so our idea of a home theater is comfy seating, a decent sound system and big tv. The kids are probably going to enjoy it more than we will anyways ...

I like the cap/nose idea, to keep the stairs consistent. looks like I have some measuring to do....

Use glue to attache the cap/nose to the old treads. Yellow glue will be fine. Use a brad nailer to hold the nose snug against the front and either brads or some bricks to hold down the cap.