We have some stairs in our 50-year-old house that are currently carpeted.
SWMBO isn't crazy about the carpet (exact words: "I hate this carpet"). She
wants to remove the carpet and put down a runner. The problem, or course,
is that the treads and risers are pine. The treads overhang the risers by
about 2". Personally, I'd just like to replace the treads with a hardwood
(oak perhaps), but that won't be so easy. The treads fit into the sides of
the staircase, so I can't just yank them out. From that I can tell, to get
them, I'd have to deconstruct the staircase. SWMBO wants to paint the
treads/risers and put the runner on top of that.

If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

todd

todd wrote:
We have some stairs in our 50-year-old house that are currently
carpeted. SWMBO isn't crazy about the carpet (exact words: "I hate
this carpet"). She wants to remove the carpet and put down a runner.
The problem, or course, is that the treads and risers are pine. The
treads overhang the risers by about 2". Personally, I'd just like to
replace the treads with a hardwood (oak perhaps), but that won't be
so easy. The treads fit into the sides of the staircase, so I can't
just yank them out. From that I can tell, to get them, I'd have to
deconstruct the staircase. SWMBO wants to paint the treads/risers
and put the runner on top of that.

If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

todd

Typical woman...lets paint the wood...arghhhhh! sacrilage.

Have you thought about putting panelling with 1/8" oak over the treads and
risers? bit of work like but its the nearest your going to get to it
looking good.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

"The3rd Earl Of Derby" wrote in message
k...
todd wrote:
We have some stairs in our 50-year-old house that are currently
carpeted. SWMBO isn't crazy about the carpet (exact words: "I hate
this carpet"). She wants to remove the carpet and put down a runner.
The problem, or course, is that the treads and risers are pine. The
treads overhang the risers by about 2". Personally, I'd just like to
replace the treads with a hardwood (oak perhaps), but that won't be
so easy. The treads fit into the sides of the staircase, so I can't
just yank them out. From that I can tell, to get them, I'd have to
deconstruct the staircase. SWMBO wants to paint the treads/risers
and put the runner on top of that.

If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

todd

Typical woman...lets paint the wood...arghhhhh! sacrilage.

Have you thought about putting panelling with 1/8" oak over the treads and
risers? bit of work like but its the nearest your going to get to it
looking good.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

I have considered that. The difficult part would seem to be getting the
rounded stair nose covered.

todd

todd wrote:
"The3rd Earl Of Derby" wrote in message
k...
todd wrote:
We have some stairs in our 50-year-old house that are currently
carpeted. SWMBO isn't crazy about the carpet (exact words: "I hate
this carpet"). She wants to remove the carpet and put down a
runner. The problem, or course, is that the treads and risers are
pine. The treads overhang the risers by about 2". Personally, I'd
just like to replace the treads with a hardwood (oak perhaps), but
that won't be so easy. The treads fit into the sides of the
staircase, so I can't just yank them out. From that I can tell, to
get them, I'd have to deconstruct the staircase. SWMBO wants to
paint the treads/risers and put the runner on top of that.

If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

todd

Typical woman...lets paint the wood...arghhhhh! sacrilage.

Have you thought about putting panelling with 1/8" oak over the
treads and risers? bit of work like but its the nearest your going
to get to it looking good.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

I have considered that. The difficult part would seem to be getting
the rounded stair nose covered.

todd

I've seen some stairs where the bullnose is a seperate piece and are nailed
to the tread.
--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 01:17:09 -0500, "todd" wrote:

We have some stairs in our 50-year-old house that are currently carpeted.
SWMBO isn't crazy about the carpet (exact words: "I hate this carpet"). She
wants to remove the carpet and put down a runner. The problem, or course,
is that the treads and risers are pine. The treads overhang the risers by
about 2". Personally, I'd just like to replace the treads with a hardwood
(oak perhaps), but that won't be so easy. The treads fit into the sides of
the staircase, so I can't just yank them out. From that I can tell, to get
them, I'd have to deconstruct the staircase. SWMBO wants to paint the
treads/risers and put the runner on top of that.

If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

todd

That's a tough one Todd.

I wonder how the Treads are *fit into* the sides of the staircase....?
Standard stair work would have the Skirt Board go on first and then
the Treads butt into it. If your staircase is different that could
make this job more difficult.
Maybe you could comment on this point.

In the meantime, I can only think of one idea at the moment-
Come out from the side of the staircase about 2 or 21/2", cut the
Tread and remove the entire Tread leaving only the 2" section on the
side. Use a chisel to cut off the old nosing/overhang and a rasp to
clean it up. Build a *box* over the old piece of tread. Lay down new
Treads butting up against the *box*.
The *box* would be 2" away from the wall/side so it will not interfere
with ppl using the stairs.

In article ,
todd wrote:
We have some stairs in our 50-year-old house that are currently carpeted.
SWMBO isn't crazy about the carpet (exact words: "I hate this carpet"). She
wants to remove the carpet and put down a runner. The problem, or course,
is that the treads and risers are pine. The treads overhang the risers by
about 2". Personally, I'd just like to replace the treads with a hardwood
(oak perhaps), but that won't be so easy. The treads fit into the sides of
the staircase, so I can't just yank them out. From that I can tell, to get
them, I'd have to deconstruct the staircase. SWMBO wants to paint the
treads/risers and put the runner on top of that.

If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

todd



You are forgetting the entire rationale of the acronym "SWMBO" For the
sake of domestic harmony, paint the treads/risers and put the runner
on top of that.

--

Larry Wasserman Baltimore, Maryland

You could make or buy something like this and have the carpet runner between
the two of them.
http://www.carolinastair.com/detail.asp?ID=522
Joe

"todd" wrote in message
. ..
We have some stairs in our 50-year-old house that are currently carpeted.
SWMBO isn't crazy about the carpet (exact words: "I hate this carpet").
She
wants to remove the carpet and put down a runner. The problem, or course,
is that the treads and risers are pine. The treads overhang the risers by
about 2". Personally, I'd just like to replace the treads with a hardwood
(oak perhaps), but that won't be so easy. The treads fit into the sides
of
the staircase, so I can't just yank them out. From that I can tell, to
get
them, I'd have to deconstruct the staircase. SWMBO wants to paint the
treads/risers and put the runner on top of that.

If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

todd

todd wrote:
We have some stairs in our 50-year-old house that are currently carpeted.
SWMBO isn't crazy about the carpet (exact words: "I hate this carpet"). She
wants to remove the carpet and put down a runner. The problem, or course,
is that the treads and risers are pine. The treads overhang the risers by
about 2". Personally, I'd just like to replace the treads with a hardwood
(oak perhaps), but that won't be so easy. The treads fit into the sides of
the staircase, so I can't just yank them out. From that I can tell, to get
them, I'd have to deconstruct the staircase. SWMBO wants to paint the
treads/risers and put the runner on top of that.

If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

todd


Here's a weird suggestion, and more experienced woodworkers can tell you
if this is a good idea or not.

Let's assume you can remove the treads. Try cutting a new tread with a
hardwood, but make it a little wider than the original tread. And keep
the front a little rough, because you'll need to sand or rout the edge.

Now, cut it _diagonally_ from front to back, like this:

back
------ -------
| \ \ |
| L \ \ R |
| \ \ |
---------- ----
front

This way, you can put the R side into the slot first, and slide the L
side into the other slot. You'll have to trim or sand the front to make
it flush.

This would depend on how much suport under the tread you have. You may
also want to consider a spline in that diagonal for strength.

But I'd also suggest hearing from other woodworkers about this. It's a
clever idea, I admit, but whether it's good for something as
load-intensive as a stair, that's another.

snip
We have some stairs in our 50-year-old house that are currently carpeted.
SWMBO isn't crazy about the carpet (exact words: "I hate this carpet"). She
wants to remove the carpet and put down a runner.
snip
SWMBO wants to paint the
treads/risers and put the runner on top of that.

If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

todd


I'm with Larry... You're missing the point here.. She hate's the
carpet, she wants to paint them... I'm guessing that she probably has
a little bigger picture in mind than just the stairs and natural oak
may not fit in with the color scheme merrily dancing in her pretty
little head... :-)

Pull the carpet, clean em up, paint, carpet... She's happy... then
YOU'RE happy.

Good luck!!!