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New House, Bare Stairs
Hello,
I need some suggestions regarding the finishing of my stairs leading to
the basement.
We just had our house built in 11-01 and we love it. There are a few
minor things that are kinda bugging me and one of them is the stairs to
the basement.
Here's the problem: the foyer, as well as our kitchen and dinette
has beautiful Mannington Laminate wood flooring, In order to get to the
kitchen you must pass the entrance of the basement, well we have that door
wide open for convenience purposes and the stairs are unfinished rough
looking.
I am tired of looking at the contrast of the laminate vs. the unfinished
wood stairs. I want to do the project myself so I have eliminated
carpeting the steps for the time being (basement isn't finished, so that
can wait), I have never heard of steps that are laminate wood, so maybe
that's out, so maybe staining the steps and using some oak trim may
work,,,, but I wanted to find out if there was something else... maybe a
little different out there I can try to use. My parents have the vinyl
steps and I kinda don't like that. So I am putting out there for some
suggestions.
Thanks in advance
Derek
The
normal approach to stairs like yours is to cover them with something.
Carpet is the most common covering, but for basement stairs carpet might
get destroyed prematurely. Vinyl is another option, but the nose (front
edge) of each tread needs a metal corner strip to keep the vinyl from
peeling up.
The other basic options are:
Floor paint. After cleaning and priming, you can use a
high-quality latex porch-and-floor paint (we've been using Sears
Weatherbeater, which is made by Sherwin-Williams). Some floor paints are
available in oil-based which are more resistant to abrasion but may be
too slippery. Good latex products will hold up for years and can be
touched-up easily.
Stain and urethane. I personally prefer this approach. In the
first house I owned, I finished the basement nicely but the stairs
looked awful... old, worn, dirty, plain lumber. So I sanded then down,
cleaned them up, and applied a moderately dark stain and urethane. It
looked much better, though it still looked like stained softwood lumber,
that is, the knots were visible. Urethane is very durable and commonly
used on floors, so it makes a great coating. Later on, if you finish
your basement, you can always carpet over the stained stairs and you
won't waste much money on this temporary solution.
A quart of urethane should provide the 3 or 4 coats you'll need, and a
pint of stain should be more than enough. Use a high-quality natural
bristle brush for smoothest results in the urethane.
Carpet Runner. You might be able to buy a decent carpet runner
and staple it to the stairs. But the carpet runner must be thin enough
and flexible enough to conform to the stair contours. And the runner
needs to be well-stapled at the back of the stair treads and the top of
the risers (below the nose of the tread above). If it comes loose,
somebody could trip and fall.
But I'd use the stain and urethane if it was my house. If you don't like
it, you can always cover it or paint over it (after a light sanding).
Bruce W. Maki, Editor.
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