Complete stair makeover

it starts with ripping out this ugly outdated carpet and removal of the carpet itself is pretty easy in most cases you can simply just pull it straight up with a little bit of force but on the stairs each Riser and stair has its own piece of carpet with about a billion Staples in each one so these pieces also came out pretty easily but they did require a little bit more force due to the sheer number of Staples that were used I started from the top and worked my way down so I wouldn't need to deal with stepping on any tack strips next is by far the most tedious part of this entire project and that's removing the tack strips and all of the different Staples so here I began at the bottom and worked my way up that way I would always have some place to sit as I worked and I used a flathead screwdriver for the Staples that held down the carpet pad and I found needle nose pliers worked really good for all of the carpet and carpet Staples once I got through a few stairs it started going pretty smoothly foreign it was time to go ahead and cut back the bull noses and so to do this I ended up making this quick little jig that basically would give me a line of where I wanted to cut the bull nose on the Treads and I didn't have to cut it back all of the way to the risers but I had the length to do so so I thought it would make the process a lot easier and it did once I Mark the line I then took a jigsaw and cut inside the line to not dig into the riser I did dig in on a couple occasions but since it's going to be covered it really wasn't that big of a deal now since I can't get the jigsaw all the way to the end I did opt to finish it off and cut it with a multi-tool and this is another instance where this tool is absolutely invaluable I am able to easily cut everything back flush I would like to say that I also did try to cut back the bullnose with a track saw using the plunge feature and to be honest with you just due to space constraints I found the jigsaw to be much easier and much faster now because I didn't cut the stair flush to the Riser I did need to go back and do that before moving forward so I tried two different approaches on this the first option was to take a sander with some aggressive grit sandpaper just to make the process fast and sand everything back flush and this worked really well the second option which I preferred was to use a trim router with a flush trim bit unfortunately I failed to record that part I guess you're just going to have to take my word for it but either way works just fine but I did find the router to be a little bit faster now that the stairs were prepped I could start cutting all of my risers to do this I used a stair tread jig this is incredibly helpful with this process and I would argue that it's pretty much a necessity the one that I'm using here is an overly fancy one and there are many other cheaper options but I like fancy stuff here you can see me using a spacer to the left and right for The Jig to actually sit on and this is because I'm working from the bottom up on the install so I will be setting the risers on top of the flooring after it's in place and the benefit to this is that I have a little bit of play with the Treads so they won't need to be perfect as the risers will cover it in the back and this will all make more sense once I get to the install after I set my gauge I then take it to one of my risers I Mark the line and then all I need to do is simply adjust the miter saw as needed to cut on that line I will say that any adjustments that I did need to make were all less than one degree I would also like to add that I do Mark the backs of each one of the risers and I mark it with which one it is and what the top is this helped me keep everything organized because every single Riser was slightly different after cutting each one I then did a quick test fit and made any adjustments as needed once all of the risers were done I then moved on to the Treads and I followed the exact same steps with the stair tread jig only this time when marking my lines I had to include the nose molding and cut both at the same time again I followed the same steps that the miter saw just cutting two separate pieces instead of one after the plank itself was cut to the right size I then moved over and ripped to the remainder that I don't need off at the table saw and just like before I test fit each piece and made any necessary adjustments the flooring and nose molding do not lock together they are designed to slide together for a seamless fit the adhesive is what's going to keep them together after all the Treads were dry fit I did the same thing and marked each pair and set them off to the side now to finish the risers I sanded them down cleaned off any remaining dust or debris and I applied two coats of primer and two coats of paint and during this time I also did the exact same process to the stringers that way it's already finished when I install everything now before installing the stairs I did sand each one of them down with some 80 grit sandpaper just to rough the surface up a bit and to remove any excess paint that might be left behind I did this to assist with the adhesion of the adhesive before applying any adhesive I did one last cleaning of the stairs as I stated earlier in the video I worked from the bottom up so here is the process that I went through I added adhesive to the back of the Riser and put it in place I secured it along the top using an 18 gauge brad nailer because those holes will be covered by the nose molding this was only to help hold it in place while the adhesive sets up after that I could move on to the flooring here I apply the adhesive directly to the stair since it was a level surface I did personally add a little bit extra to where the nose molding would go as I know that this part is going to get the most stress on a daily basis I also did a quick sanding to the back side of the nose molding just to help with the adhesion as well I then placed the plank down with a gap at the back removing the padding was not needed for this plank doing so would actually result in your nose molding being slightly higher than the plank itself from there I added the nose molding and slid it back to join the two pieces and get the molding tight to the riser once they were in place I used my body weight to help spread out the adhesive and develop a strong bond I decided to place three Nails along the back side to keep the pieces from sliding as I worked and finally I added a few strips of blue tape to temporarily keep the plank and the nose molding together be sure to read the manufacturer's installation instructions regarding adhesive hewn calls for a hundred percent silicone adhesive failure to use the correct adhesive for your product could result in an issue with a warranty claim I let them sit for 24 hours and try to limit any traffic on them to allow the adhesive time to cure it was then time to remove the tape and apply caulk to any seams that might need it now I will say unless you are going to go to the trouble of scribing each piece you will absolutely have some gaps that need filling why because it's very likely that the stringers are going to have bows in them I applied a very small amount to the seams and then sprayed everything down lightly with a water and denatured alcohol mixture you can do the same thing with water and soap but this makes the cleanup really easy as the caulk will not stick to it I removed the excess with my finger and followed that up with a damp rag I wanted to drop this in here and point out that I also did The Landing I didn't film any of it I actually have a video that's very detailed on how to install this hewn flooring and the way that I installed it up here is exactly the same one thing that I want to point out is that I waited to do this until the stairs were done and also one thing that I added is I did use adhesive on the first plank that goes into the nose molding earlier in the video I said that these do not lock together so because this is a floating floor and there is a little bit of space along each side I didn't want it to end up shifting and coming away from the nose molding and then seeing a visible Gap so for me the solution was put this in place get a nice seam make sure that that's adhered down and then every single plank after that locks in so I don't need to worry about them separating for any reason and then the other thing with that is that it still gives it the ability to move uh based on you know temperature changes or any kind of movements seasonally that might happen in the floor it would just focus all the movement back towards the back and just like that my stairs were done I'm very very pleased with the end result and I think these stairs are going to look great for years to come

Channel: Bent's Woodworking

Views: 816,386

Keywords: woodworking, woodworking tips, woodworking tips and tricks, how to, woodworking how to, woodworking channel, instruction, Jason bent, bents woodworking, woodworking tools, beginner woodworking, woodworking for beginners

Id: 2rkFnsTztog

Length: 12min 25sec (745 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 08 2023