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Can you put a runner on winders?
comments (5) February 17th, 2009 in Blogs
Kevin Ireton, editor-at-large
11 users recommend
My dog keeps falling down the stairs. It makes an awful racket and takes a surprisingly long time. If there were a landing, it would probably stop him. But the winders act like a banked turn, and he usually cascades all the way to the first floor, by which time my wife has started shrieking.
As a temporary solution, we’ve taken to putting green rubber booties on his feet. These expensive booties are sold in pet stores and protect a dog’s paws from snow and ice. But they are really just balloons with the necks cut off. They give him good traction on the highly varnished treads, but the balloons don’t do a lot for his ferocious image. Our long-term solution is to have a carpet runner installed on the stairs.
Because of the geometry of the winding treads, I knew that installing a runner was going to be tricky. I thought it might even require a custom-made carpet. But then I figured this is New England, birthplace of the Cape Cod house; carpet installers around here must be used to winders. And sure enough, the first guy who came out to look at them said, “No problem.”
He could make a pattern and order a custom runner, but said that it wasn’t necessary. By cutting a separate piece of carpet for each winding tread, he explained, and putting a seam at the back where tread and riser meet, he could make the runner turn the corner.
He even said that if we wanted a patterned runner, and if we were willing to pay for some extra material, he could match the pattern. Great, we thought, and we ordered a pale green runner with an Oriental pattern.
Yesterday was supposed to be installation day, and I started worrying when three guys showed up to install one runner. They spent about 45 minutes debating what to do while my wife and I exchanged glances in the kitchen. Eventually, I was called in for a consultation (another very bad sign). The final straw was when the owner of the company turned to his installer and said, “Should we call Ed?”
My wife and I took the owner aside and explained that we weren’t feeling very confident. He said he completely understood and that maybe regrouping was a good idea. He would contact Ed, a more experienced installer, and get him to look at the job. He would also refund our deposit if none of this worked out. That all made us feel a little better, but it still leaves the dog with green balloons on his feet and us wondering if we’ll end up with a runner. Stay tuned.
posted in: Blogs, safety
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About this blog
As the editor of Fine Homebuilding, I spend my weekdays trying to produce a magazine that will satisfy 300,000 of the most demanding builders, both professional and amateur. As the owner of a 200-year old Cape in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills, I spend weekends working on my house.
Each activity invariably informs, and complicates, the other. In this blog, I’ll offer observations from both worlds -- publishing and building -- with the hope of providing some useful or at least entertaining insights.
Comments (5)
building a set of winders this week
Posted: 2:41 am on December 14th
Posted: 11:13 am on March 19th
Posted: 5:41 pm on February 21st
Posted: 7:51 pm on February 17th
Posted: 2:18 pm on February 17th
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