This will be the season finale about the stairs. The wrap up. The final curtain call. The last edition.
The last time I will mention and show pictures.
Bahahaha, who am I kidding?
I love these stairs so much that you will see sneaks and peeks forever. 🙂
Before I jump into the financials of everything, I wanted to show you one of the things that made these steps amazing.
After the carpet was ripped off, I noticed that the stairs were not snug up against the edges. Not a big problem considering each and everyone one of them would be replaced.
Steve meticulously measured and remeasured each and every one of those treads and risers before cutting them so that they fit perfectly.
See the difference?
That is the sign of a craftsman. Thank you for all of your hard work Steve. : )
Without further delay, here is the bullet point lists of costs for supplies:
16 pine treads $170
17 pine risers $119
1 quart of stain $34
1 quart of paint $12
1 can of wipe on polyurethane $12
2 packages of protective gloves $12
1 can of mineral spirits $5
2 packages of 80 to 120 grit sandpaper $6
1 new brush for staining $8
1 tube of tub and tile caulk $free from Steve
1 small jar of wood putty $4
1 small tub of spackling $8
Grand Total: $390
Time it took from the beginning of the project to the final touch ups? Realistically, about 3 weeks.
Time it took if we would have worked night and day, never eaten, slept or seen our loved ones…..2 days.
Remember the show with Ty Pennington, Extreme Makeover? They built an entire house in 7 days. I guess none of them had loved ones. ha.
Happy Monday everyone and thank you all for following along and your wonderful comments. I love hearing from all of you!
This post is going to be short, sweet and will leave you in suspense. Two teasers. I will apologize up front. Sorry.
The stairs are 95% done and they are amazing! Everything I had imagined and some things I didn’t. I still need to fill nail holes, re stain a couple of spots and tuck and staple the carpet back over the top tread lip.
Tread lip? That’s the descriptive version of what it is. Here, take a look.
The top piece of wood that hangs over the top riser. Most people would be more likely to refer to this as the landing at the top of the stairs where the carpet starts.
When we last visited the stairs, they were in this arrangement.
Steve was scheduled to come over Monday afternoon, possibly Tuesday. Life got in the way and he was unable to be here. I didn’t think I could do any more after removing the carpet, removing the pad, staining the treads and painting the risers. I thought my skill set was maxed.
I tried, I really tried to be patient and wait for Steve. I designed and sewed six pillows for the livingroom, I filled a pillow order for a customer, I ate lunch, I did dishes and then I read a book.
Well, for anyone that knows me, I am not very good at being patient. There had to be something I could do on the staircase that would be productive. 🙂
Following the suggestion of the YouTube video, I hammered the crowbar under the tread working from right to left and then popped the tread up.
There were nine nails per tread.  Three on the right, three in the middle and three on the left. PLUS, there was a thick strip of wood glue applied underneath where the nails were placed. Some of the treads were more resistant than others, but using the leverage of the crowbar, they came out easier than I thought they would.
Here was the yuck trapped inside the stairs. Shop Vac’d that up pretty fast.
I was having so much fun popping the treads that I had to slow down a bit. These steps lead to my studio and Jack’s bedroom. Logic trumped fun and every other tread was removed.
The staircase would be a perfect Fixer Upper episode. I don’t even need a full episode. A flashback length segment would be plenty.
You know how Chip and Joanna always find some kind of drama on demo day? I mean you know that it is all going to work out because well, they are Chip and Joanna. But there is that moment of “Oh no, what are they going to do?”
I had my dramatic moment on the day Jack and I pulled the carpet and pad off of the stairs.
Total side story:
Jack broke his collar bone in gym class last week. He had surgery on Tuesday and is healing fine. This kid has not complained once from the pain of the break or surgery. When we removed the bandages after three days however, that was his first welp of pain. ha.
He also never lost his sense of humor. In the picture above on the left, he was commenting while pulling up the carpet that this was harder than it looked. His Tyrannosaurus Rex arm was not very helpful. Kid cracks me up.
Back to the drama.
After T. Rex had the carpet pulled off, I noticed this.
The risers and treads were not flush with the wall. It’s understandable why they weren’t flush. The original owners plan for this house was to carpet the stairs. The carpet itself was flush, no need to make the wood tight up against the edges.
So now instead of simply painting the risers where they are, each riser along with the tread will be ripped out and replaced. Like any Fixer Upper episode this will be an added expense but worth it the end.
As of this moment I have the 16 treads conditioned, stained and finished with two coats of satin finish polyurethane. The next step is to paint and poly the 17 risers.
Steve will then come over this weekend and pull out all the old parts and replace them with the new.
The bright side is that I will have a bunch of pine boards to make something creative.
I only had these available in the Old Lake George shop for a limited time. They sold out very quickly. Maybe I will offer something similar but made from wood. Hmmmmmm, something to think about.
Time to get back to riser painting. Thanks for stopping by!
Re-doing my staircase! How creative is that title!
Earlier this week I met with a plumber about helping me put my staircase back together after I rip it apart for my biggest attempt yet to DIY something.
Yep, you read that right. Steve is a plumber by trade and also a very talented handyman with everything else. He is also our friends Dad and Grandpa to our little buddy Logan. This is his wife Pam and their granddaughter Addie. (Since this picture their family has added 3 more grandbabies. They are so blessed.)
Steve bought me 16 pine treads to replace the particle board that is under the carpet. I choose pine because I want the steps to be a little “not perfect”. I want them to seem that they were original with the house. Our house is almost 10 years old, so not perfect will be….well, perfect. The pine boards were about $10 a piece as opposed to the $30 oak boards. Saving from the get go.
From here on, this is all me. So I made a list. I like making lists. They keep me on task and help me feel that I am accomplishing things.
Put a thin coat of pre-stain on the pine boards with a foam brush. This will help them stain more evenly.
Lightly sand each board with a 180 grit sandpaper in the direction of the grain.
Apply a good amount of stain in sections to each board top side and about 4 inches in on the bottom side. The bottom of the tread overlap will be visible when standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up. Wipe of each section of stain remembering that the longer it sits, the darker it will be.
After letting the stained tread thoroughly dry, add a water-based top coat of polycrylic/polyurethane.
While waiting for the stain to dry, remove the carpet, pad, all nails, carpet tack and staples.
Paint the back of the step (riser) and add a top coat of poly.
Set an appointment with Steve to replace the treads.
Take after photos. 🙂
Looks pretty straight forward and simple on paper. I’ll keep you posted on all of the drama. 🙂
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