Stair Remodel... Step by Step Part 4 The Details

We're getting so close! Here's a sneak peek at the bottom half of the stairs. We've come a long way baby! (And the next project will be the handrail since the current one looks even cheaper and uglier now that the stairs aren't so ugly, but I don't think my husband is quite ready to discuss that just yet. Hehe.)

Before and After

While the hubby worked on sanding and staining the second landing, I caulked all of the edges along the bottom stairs. I then taped off all the edges. I really hate taping. I usually just wing it and go over the edges with a small brush, but since we spent all that time on the stain I didn't want to ruin it. 

With the tape done, I started to paint the risers and molding. We used four coats of Valspar Ultra Bright White in semi gloss.

Yet even with all that tape, I still managed to get paint on the treads. Fortunately, I picked up some of this latex paint remover which I sprayed on the "accidents" and scrubbed off with a soft grout brush. 

We also picked up some Bellawood floor cleaner from Lumber Liquidators which got the treads nice and clean. I learned the hard way NOT to use Pledge on the steps. 

Below is a picture of the closet door that is next to the stairs. The "white" (aka Swiss Coffee) on the left is the existing color of all of the doors and trim in our house. The white on the right is one coat of the Ultra Bright White. BIIIIIG difference. So I spent six hours repainting all the doors and trim downstairs to match - and though that was a detour from the main stair project, it really brightened up all of the rooms downstairs. 

Meanwhile, on the upper half, the hubby was installing the LAST tread!!! 

We reached the top of Stair Everest!!!

So we still have to do the same thing on the top half as we did on the bottom, but here's the finished bottom pic (the molding on the landing isn't done yet, I'll get that when I do the top). 

No more plywood steps woo hoo!!! 

And here's one of the whole thing (you can see the left side hasn't gotten molding yet. 

Almost done!  We are already planning our vacation (and I am secretly planning to knock out the half wall and put in iron balusters...).

I'll hopefully make a final before and after post soon!

See the whole project: 

Stair Remodel...Step by Step...Part 1

Stair Remodel...Step by Step Part 2 - Treads and Risers

Stair Remodel...Step by Step Part 3...The Landings

Stair Remodel...Step by Step Part 3...The Landings

As I mentioned in the last post, when we got the landings in the middle of the stairs, we got stuck. First off, we needed more tools. This is how we acquired a nail gun, an air compressor, and this nifty $35 tool from Lowe's that turns your circular saw into a table saw. I scored the Workmate off of Craigslist for cheap but wasn't willing to pay for a full-on table saw.

The retrofit treads we'd been using were thinner than standard flooring, so we couldn't put a tread at the front of the landing and line up matching flooring.

The solution? We went to Lumber Liquidators and ordered unfinished oak flooring with its own stair nosing.

We had to sand down the plywood landing, because it had glue and paint and raised spots that had been previously hidden by the carpet.  

The nosing is a special piece that has an overhang in the front and a groove in the back for the flooring to fit in. The hubby cut and dry-fitted all the boards first. Measure, measure, measure. Don't be surprised that your walls aren't actually straight. 

To secure the boards, he started at the back. Using Bostick's Best (recommended to us by the flooring guys at Lumber Liquidators), he glued each board down. He then shot nails at an angle along the tongue of the boards - shooting them this way means NO nail holes in your flooring!

Next up - sanding! We started with a heavy grit sand paper (60-80) to wear down the variations between board heights, then finished with a fine grit (200) to create a really smooth surface.

As with the treads, we did three coats of stain. Minwax Mahogany above and espresso below to create a warm dark brown.

Once dry, we added new baseboards, filled in nail holes and caulked all the edges. 

Ralph surveying the day's work. Tomorrow I'll be touching up the wall paint and painting all the trim white. We didn't have false stringers on our stairs, so we created the look of some by taking half-round molding strips and running it down the length of the steps. We're going to paint the risers, the molding and the triangular space along the steps bright white tomorrow once all construction is complete. 

I'm loving how it looks!

And, since I wanted to paint the trim bright white, I will have to paint all the doors and existing trim bright white as well...because apparently they are all a shade of Swiss Coffee...which, when side by side, is definitely NOT bright white. The fun never ends. 

We WILL get this done this weekend!!!

See the whole Project: 

Stair Remodel...Step by Step Part 1

Stair Remodel...Step by Step Part 2...Treads and Risers

Stair Remodel...Step by Step Part 2 - Treads and Risers

We started this project back at the end of March and then our work schedules got crazy and we only were able to work on it a bit at a time...which made it feel like we were going to live with OSB stair treads for the rest of our days.

But the hubby had some "use it or lose it" leave and so he stayed home this past week and made some real progress.

First, staining the treads. We did 3 coats of stain with polyurethane. We couldn't find an exact stain that matched the rest of our wood in the house - the premixed ones were either too red or too black - so we made our own by doing one coat Minwax Bombay Mahogany and two coats Espresso. They recommended three coats since it was for flooring and would be used heavily.

Each coat had to dry for a minimum of seven hours. Once dry, we scrubbed with steel wool to rough up the surface and applied the next coat. The stain, as you can see in the picture, was very drippy and made quite a mess.

TIPS:
* Use disposable gloves
* Vegetable oil will remove stain from your skin

We had to do fourteen treads total, so we did the seven bottom ones first. Since the front of the tread has trim that hangs down, we balanced the treads on canned food while we painted. I'm so excited to have this done - I was missing all my pumpkin!

Next, the risers - the vertical parts of the steps. This was an unexpected challenge. We needed boards that were 5/8" thick and since I wanted to paint them white they needed to be smooth. Wood ones at the box store were rather $$$, so we went with 12' MDF boards that were the exact height we needed (7.25" I think) and then cut those to the right lengths. It was more cost effective to get the long boards since we could get 2 risers out of every board.

Once we were halfway up, it was time to tackle the landing. Since you have to build your stairs from the bottom up, we couldn't continue onto the top half of the stairs without the landing. And the landing brought with its own challenges...and so, the landing stayed unfinished for 3 months...

See the Whole Project Here: 

Stair Remodel...Step by Step...Part 1
Stair Remodel...Step by Step...Part 3 The Landings