New Stairs - cost and tips

ST1991

There are various things we want to do with our house, but i feel it is time to tackle the stairs.

I thought about putting laminate over them, or get them carpeted.

If we carpet, then we also need to do the hallway and landing to bring it together. We have been quoted around £300 for that.

Laminate is preferred, but i can't find any nice stair nosing in a colour i like, the match the laminate strips. I just want some solid wood stairs that are nice, without having to put a covering on them. That way we can have a complimentary wooden floor in the hallway, and work something else out with the landing...!

Our current stairs have been sanded and filled in an effort to make them look half-decent but are a bit squeaky and creaky. It looks like the bottom two have been replaced at some point. One of the others has a huge split in the wood. When you get to the fourth step the top part seem to 'sag' a bit. (there is a small gap between the 4th and 5th step from the bottom, that closes when stood on the 5th and upwards).

It's a straight staircase through the middle of the house with walls either side. No bannister, just 13 straight steps.

Is it easy to simply rip out the stairs and put new ones in?
Does anyone have any ideas on cost, who is best to instruct and what i need to bear in mind? (how long will it take, do i need building regs etc)

Ideas and criticism welcome

Furts

Can you repair what you have? Timbers under the splits, reinforcement to stop the squeaking, sound proofing quilt then box/board over the underside so it all gets hidden? 18mm plywood would be good for this. Far cheaper than new stairs, and far less disruption

martinsurrey

how old is the house?

if its fairly old, how about patching the stairs up, painting them, and putting a nice carpet runner down

something like this

stairs

by using a very different but complementary carpet you don't need to redo the landings or hall.

casper_g

Personally, I wouldn't put laminate on the stairs. I think it would be very noisy, and (sorry) to me it always looks like the common area of a cheap HMO.

martinsurrey wrote: »

how old is the house?

if its fairly old, how about patching the stairs up, painting them, and putting a nice carpet runner down

something like this

stairs

by using a very different but complementary carpet you don't need to redo the landings or hall.

I agree you can make it look good without having the hallway carpeted the same as the stairs. We have laminate in the hall and carpet on the stairs and it's fine (though nothing like as nice as the link above!). I'm not so sure about the landing though - how would you carpet the top stair and have a different carpet on the landing?

martinsurrey

casper_g wrote: »

Personally, I wouldn't put laminate on the stairs. I think it would be very noisy, and (sorry) to me it always looks like the common area of a cheap HMO.



I agree you can make it look good without having the hallway carpeted the same as the stairs. We have laminate in the hall and carpet on the stairs and it's fine (though nothing like as nice as the link above!). I'm not so sure about the landing though - how would you carpet the top stair and have a different carpet on the landing?

you carpet to up to the underside of the top stair on the landing with your runner and then have edge carpet bar on the landing, an inch before the first step (all painted to match the sides of the stairs.

ST1991

martinsurrey wrote: »

how old is the house?

if its fairly old, how about patching the stairs up, painting them, and putting a nice carpet runner down

something like this

stairs

by using a very different but complementary carpet you don't need to redo the landings or hall.

This is beautiful!
We were thinking of doing this, but again weren't sure if it would be better to replace the stairs altogether beforehand instead of putting lipstick on a pig...

In answer to the question - we recently found out our house is 300 years old (previous owner popped round with some deeds, dating back to 1704 about it being rented out by a famous Bristolian ) so we would like to try and keep some of the old features, although i'm not convinced that the stairs are original. Perhaps they are?!

Will it be more expensive to replace a staircase in an older house?
The walls are very thick solid stone, and downstairs is concrete flooring.

ST1991

Furts wrote: »

Can you repair what you have? Timbers under the splits, reinforcement to stop the squeaking, sound proofing quilt then box/board over the underside so it all gets hidden? 18mm plywood would be good for this. Far cheaper than new stairs, and far less disruption

Thank-you for the ideas!
I am all about doing things myself (with help of a handy husband) but wasn't sure if this is an area that needs a more specialist approach. Especially when they have seen better days and move when you walk on them..!

It is difficult to describe without having a picture to hand, but essentially it feels a little bit like the bottom 4 steps are secured, but the top ones are secured to each other separately, kind of 'floating', and when you step on any step of the top ones they move down about 2-3mm to close the gap between the 4th and 5th step...
I'm unsure how that would be fixable, unless wood-sealant would do the job in that little gap?

Furts

ST1991 wrote: »

Thank-you for the ideas!
I am all about doing things myself (with help of a handy husband) but wasn't sure if this is an area that needs a more specialist approach. Especially when they have seen better days and move when you walk on them..!

It is difficult to describe without having a picture to hand, but essentially it feels a little bit like the bottom 4 steps are secured, but the top ones are secured to each other separately, kind of 'floating', and when you step on any step of the top ones they move down about 2-3mm to close the gap between the 4th and 5th step...
I'm unsure how that would be fixable, unless wood-sealant would do the job in that little gap?

Think very carefully before changing your stairs - they will be fixed into the walls each side, hopefully(!), and all is plastered down to the stairs. They will not simply slide out, nor will an identical width simply slide in.

I do not know what your problem is but I have come across stairs where the strings - the pieces each side - have split/cracked through. Also the top of your stairs will be fixed and locked into your timber floor - so any movement, or settlement, or shrinkage, can cause stairs to part company somewhere in the steps. This because the bottom of your stairs bears onto your floor - so any give has to occur somewhere.

ST1991

Furts wrote: »

Think very carefully before changing your stairs - they will be fixed into the walls each side, hopefully(!), and all is plastered down to the stairs. They will not simply slide out, nor will an identical width simply slide in.

I do not know what your problem is but I have come across stairs where the strings - the pieces each side - have split/cracked through. Also the top of your stairs will be fixed and locked into your timber floor - so any movement, or settlement, or shrinkage, can cause stairs to part company somewhere in the steps. This because the bottom of your stairs bears onto your floor - so any give has to occur somewhere.

Thank-you. I now feel a bit silly :embarasse
I thought the gap between stairs meant once day i would walk up them and fall through...

In that case i will take your initial advice and get them filled/secured, sanded and painted. Then i can add a runner in the future