I had a set of stairs that were measured wrong (lumber salesman & builder) so they ran long of the wall. I did something I never did before and would like to hear comments and criticisims if you have time.
What does this situation in my life ask of me?
Replies
Sometimes you just gotta be creative. Thats the big difference between a pro and a wannabee, being able to save the day and make it look good.
I woulda terminated the stair apron at the corner, and adjusted the run of the last step so that the riser and base could be cut from one piece. The nosing would stick out by itself for that small distance.
At least that's what I see from here..
Trimcarp - those are nice looking stairs, and the problem you're focusing on seems minor. I doubt most people would notice, outside the trades. That said, it looks to me like the riser for the first step is pretty flush with the wall. The tread nosing protrudes just slightly past the wall - why not just put a small return on the edge of the tread at that point? The little build-out just seems to draw attention to the situation unnecessarily. Overall very nice work.
Edited 12/26/2005 2:20 am by Huck
Sometimes you gota do what you gota do. I've run into same or similar situations many times. I generally carry the skirt around corner and create a plinth on the front, carring the top trim pc. around corner w/ a return. But every situation is a little different, depending on the extra projection. I say well handled. I learned a long time ago, that the trim carpenter is there to make it happen, fix-em up. I don't always do an up charge on things like this, that don't require a lot of time, but do joke w/ the GC or super , to write it in their book, that I got-em covered.
Roger
the nosing return idea sounds best to me too ... though if that didn't work my second choice would have been to add an inch and a half to the end of the wall. I don't think it's bad though the way that you did it.
Very creative. Two other options, judging from what I can see: extend the stair tread along the wall for a decorative effect, or if you feel like spending some money and time, create another matching newel post (decorative) on that side to frame the opening.
All,
Thanks for the responses and the ideas in them. In our area the stairs come to the site prebuilt as a unit so al I do is install then build the rail and trim it out. In the future, if they over hang this much into the room I might remove the tread before installing and ask the suppler to send another one so I can return the tread to the wall. When things are this wrong it is better to find a way to "feature it" instead of make it blend (wrap the tread to the wall or half newel). This house had a major time crunch - it was in a home show - so some of the other ideas like add a 2x4 to the wall were not acceptable to the builder. The half newel is a good idea I will keep in the back of my head. I usually do the wrap-around-plinth at the bottom but it looked so big in this situation that I gambled on this. I do apprieciate all the comments, as I am always looking for a better way. Thank you.
What does this situation in my life ask of me?
Edited 12/26/2005 10:24 am ET by trimcarp