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Stairs Remodel?

11 years ago

Hi, I'm not sure if these are the right forums for this, but I'll try asking. I want to redo our stairs from carpeted with old balusters and railing to wood treads with iron balusters. The flooring downstairs and up is cherry laminate. I received a quote from a stairs guy, which came in around $6k for maple wood. My question is, how hard would this be to do myself? I've read stairs are fairly complicated, but I could take a week off work to do this. Underneath the carpet are plywood pieces. Would I remove those or put treads on top? I've seen some websites that sell the wood also sell treads that are thinner so they can go on top of plywood, but also read that it would cause extra squeaking if I do that. Any help is appreciated. Pictures attached.

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Comments (5)

aidan_m
11 years ago
This is not a DIY job. The skill and tools required are of a cabinetmaker. Unless you are already a woodworker, you wouldn't learn the trade if you took two months, or even two years off work. Not to mention the thousands of dollars in tools you would need.

Did you install your own laminate flooring? That would be a good project to tackle for a handy DIY'er.

The stairs are in a different league.
shaklee3
Original Author
11 years ago
I did the laminate myself. Why does it require the skills of a cabinetmaker? The stringers are already made, and the treads are pre-mitered.
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I agree with Patricia and the others. 4K is very low for the amount of work and materials needed to complete the stairs correctly. If a patch is added to fill in where the runner was the 2 woods will take stain differently and never look cohesive. If a cap was added to the tread to resolve the staining issue you will have a much bigger issue with riser heights. A 1/4 inch is enough to trip you up every time on the first and last step causing a huge safety risk. IMO, I would just redoing the runner if your budget won’t allow for a complete replacement.
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Do you see how your current stairs have the spindles that are attached to a top and bottom rail, and only attached to the stairs in select points? All the metal rails in the example pictures (including the one above) have the spindles going into the stairs directly. It’s pretty time consuming and exacting work. If those rails are off even a little, the stairs won’t pass inspection. Inspectors pass a 4” ball between the rails, and it’s not supposed to go through at any point. Is this going to get/need to be permitted? Get pictures from the installer, and also go see his work in person. I can’t imagine that many spindles (not pre-built in sections) in metal/iron could be that cheap installed individually on site. Something’s not quite matching... with what you think you’re getting vs the actual work he’s quoting. I like what NYCish posted...but my quotes for a much (much!) smaller set of stairs ranged from at least double to triple. But they couldn’t do only two spindles -they would have had to have 3 per stair, to pass inspection. Make sure you are very clear with what you want and clarify what the installer is quoting. He might have you focused on the style of spindles, but not on the style of install...or things have changed and you’re really lucky! Agree with the above posts that say the examples you posted are too ornate.
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As far as cracks go, I've seen worse. I agree with all the above, scrape/sand/get rid of the colored caulk. If it's silicone-based you can try vinegar and sometimes denatured alcohol. test in an inconspicuous spot if you can. I'd probably put in clear silicone, but not a shiny one. You can find "flat" finish silicone or call if you look around, An elastemeric or been a caulk/silicon mix will work. Just do one stair and see how it looks.
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aidan_m
11 years ago
It requires the tools of a cabinetmaker, mainly a table saw, router, and mitre saw. And a couple of pneumatic nailers.

The skill is more of a safety requirement. Portable table saws are extremely dangerous for a novice.

An person's standards of craftmanship are completely subjective. You may be perfectly capable of producing finish carpentry to your own satisfaction.
User
11 years ago
Go ahead and remove the carpeting yourself, but it's a false economy to try to remodel stairs yourself.

The hard part is getting the newel post and railings set firmly.

That alone is worth hiring a pro to do, because if you mess it up, you have a wobbly, unsafe stairs. And you have one chance to get it right. Drill wrong and you replace a bunch of stuff and try again.

It's a medium-hard DIY job in new construction, because you have better access to the places you need to access.
zagut
11 years ago
$6k isn't a bad price for the work involved in maple.

You can take a week off but it's going to take every bit of that time to do the job.

Will you save enough from what you earn to justify it?

No need to remove the plywood if you don't want to but what's to keep it from squeaking? Enough goo should keep what you put on top quite.

You can see by the overcuts that you've got very rough cut stairs.

If you DIY you've got a lot of work ahead of you.

Best of luck.

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