How to finish a stairs?

mrsWhippy

Hi,

I've a mental block around how to finish my stairs in a new build. We are not going down the 'modern stairs/oak with glass balustrade' route purely down to cost, and we only have a standard red deal stairs in the BoQ as it stands.

Flooring in the hall and on the landing will be engineered oak - but I'm unsure what options I have for the stairs without doubling the budget. Is it possible *just* to carpet the stairs? Do people leave those types of red deal treads exposed? Are they clad with something? What sort of cost are we looking at for each of these options?

I'm trying to keep the stairs simple with as few flourishes as possible, i.e. very plain balusters etc - what did you all do?

Thanks

jimbo1979

mrsWhippy wrote: »

Hi,

I've a mental block around how to finish my stairs in a new build. We are not going down the 'modern stairs/oak with glass balustrade' route purely down to cost, and we only have a standard red deal stairs in the BoQ as it stands.

Flooring in the hall and on the landing will be engineered oak - but I'm unsure what options I have for the stairs without doubling the budget. Is it possible *just* to carpet the stairs? Do people leave those types of red deal treads exposed? Are they clad with something? What sort of cost are we looking at for each of these options?

I'm trying to keep the stairs simple with as few flourishes as possible, i.e. very plain balusters etc - what did you all do?

Thanks

I find pinterest very good for ideas in a home.it usually depends if your varnishing or white gloss the rest of your doors,skirting architraves.keep it all blending into one whichever one you decide on

FrancieBrady

Carpet for me.

I have friends who extended the engineered timber all the way up the stairs.
They cannot let their children use the stairs on their own as they are a literal death trap. I get nervous using them in stockinged feet.

Shaunoc

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Carpet for me.

I have friends who extended the engineered timber all the way up the stairs.
They cannot let their children use the stairs on their own as they are a literal death trap. I get nervous using them in stockinged feet.

we have walnut threads and yes they look great but are slippy.
I've seen some stairs with a carpet runner going up the middle and they look good

Markcheese

Carpet on the stair dulls the noise too...
Varnishing the stairs can be good too.. Don't go with too much sanding or too glossy a varnish.. You don't want it super smooth.. Unless you want to see kids flying past... If you want to stain the wood do it before varnishing, it's easy to apply, just test the colour on a scrap piece of wood,

mrsWhippy

Shaunoc wrote: »

we have walnut threads and yes they look great but are slippy.
I've seen some stairs with a carpet runner going up the middle and they look good

Thanks guys.

I was planning to paint the stairs the same satin finish as the woodwork.

Can you put a stair runner up the middle of a red deal stairs, without having to further clad the treads? Is it good enough to paint the 'edges' iykwim?

FrancieBrady

mrsWhippy wrote: »

Thanks guys.

I was planning to paint the stairs the same satin finish as the woodwork.

Can you put a stair runner up the middle of a red deal stairs, without having to further clad the treads? Is it good enough to paint the 'edges' iykwim?

Yes. Make sure you use a good few coats of undercoat on new timber, starting out with thin, sanding and then thicker coats as you go.

mrsWhippy

Markcheese wrote: »

Carpet on the stair dulls the noise too...
Varnishing the stairs can be good too.. Don't go with too much sanding or too glossy a varnish.. You don't want it super smooth.. Unless you want to see kids flying past... If you want to stain the wood do it before varnishing, it's easy to apply, just test the colour on a scrap piece of wood,

Thanks for that. But would a varnished stairs risk going orange after a few years? Could you just varnish the treads and paint the rest white?

DOCARCH

mrsWhippy wrote: »

Thanks for that. But would a varnished stairs risk going orange after a few years? Could you just varnish the treads and paint the rest white?

I wouldn't (personally) varnish red deal. Paint the whole lot and have carpet runner.

Aside from the look of varnished red deal (not very appealing), with varnished treads, painted riser and with carpet runner....there is too much going on/too busy!

FrancieBrady

DOCARCH wrote: »

I wouldn't (personally) varnish red deal. Paint the whole lot and have carpet runner.

Aside from the look of varnished red deal (not very appealing), with varnished treads, painted riser and with carpet runner....there is too much going on/too busy!

+1 on varnishing.

Mutton dressed as lamb imo. Cheap looking.

Dardania

You could consider anti-slip adhesive in lieu of carpet:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anti-Slip-Treads-Adhesive-Covers/dp/B00DIAVA12

I hate carpet as a rule, as it holds dust. Sound dampening is a valid advantage

mrsWhippy

I'm trying to avoid the mutton-dressed-as-lamb look myself so will do the same for the stairs!!

I'm not all that fond of those anti slip things, but would be ok with a low-pile stair runner.

I like the look of this, but I guess this is on a good quality oak stairs to begin with?

DOCARCH

mrsWhippy wrote: »

I guess this is on a good quality oak stairs to begin with?

Yip....varnished red deal will not look like that!

Unless....you get the red deal stained, but risk is that it will look like stained and varnished red deal!

mrsWhippy

DOCARCH wrote: »

Yip....varnished red deal will not look like that!

Unless....you get the red deal stained, but risk is that it will look like stained and varnished red deal!

Haha.

Do you have a rough idea what an oak stairs costs? I've a feeling it'll be at least twice what we have in the budget .....

DOCARCH

mrsWhippy wrote: »

Haha.

Do you have a rough idea what an oak stairs costs? I've a feeling it'll be at least twice what we have in the budget .....

I have no idea but if it's just oak treads and handrail, it's not a colossal amount more....maybe 200/300 hundred euro.

FrancieBrady

mrsWhippy wrote: »

Haha.

Do you have a rough idea what an oak stairs costs? I've a feeling it'll be at least twice what we have in the budget .....

By the time you are finished faffing with paint etc Oak threads might be the cheapest option.

mrsWhippy

DOCARCH wrote: »

I have no idea but if it's just oak treads and handrail, it's not a colossal amount more....maybe 200/300 hundred euro.

Oh ok. Thanks.

So you can get a cheap/red deal stair case, and then just upgrade the treads and handrail to oak, rather than having to buy the entire thing in oak?

That sounds very doable then. Wonder if we could get treads to match the oak flooring?

listermint

You can stain them and can stain then successfully. But would have to be varnished well afterwards.

Realistic the best option is to use a test piece of Timber, stain clear Varnish and see if you like it.

listermint

FrancieBrady wrote: »

By the time you are finished faffing with paint etc Oak threads might be the cheapest option.

Still have to finish the oak treads.... There's no avoiding a finish on either

mloc123

DOCARCH wrote: »

Yip....varnished red deal will not look like that!

Unless....you get the red deal stained, but risk is that it will look like stained and varnished red deal!

We stained and varnished red deal stairs, painted the uprights white and it came out well IMO. The stained steps are dark and have good depth/grain, looks like dark oak IMO.

Getting the level of stain right is difficult.. start light and add layers, you cannot take them off after all.

mrsWhippy

mloc123 wrote: »

We stained and varnished red deal stairs, painted the uprights white and it came out well IMO. The stained steps are dark and have good depth/grain, looks like dark oak IMO.

Getting the level of stain right is difficult.. start light and add layers, you cannot take them off after all.

I'd love a photo if you wouldn't mind?!

mloc123

Uprights need to be repainted but we have gone sale agreed on the house... so I won't be doing it

If I was to do it again I would paint an off white, something like F&B 'strong white'.

mloc123

Another one of it

mrsWhippy

mloc123 wrote: »

Another one of it

That looks really fab, thanks!

893bet

What's your budget and location?

Is the stairs a standard straight run?

mrsWhippy wrote: »

Hi,

I've a mental block around how to finish my stairs in a new build. We are not going down the 'modern stairs/oak with glass balustrade' route purely down to cost, and we only have a standard red deal stairs in the BoQ as it stands.

Flooring in the hall and on the landing will be engineered oak - but I'm unsure what options I have for the stairs without doubling the budget. Is it possible *just* to carpet the stairs? Do people leave those types of red deal treads exposed? Are they clad with something? What sort of cost are we looking at for each of these options?

I'm trying to keep the stairs simple with as few flourishes as possible, i.e. very plain balusters etc - what did you all do?

Thanks

mrsWhippy

893bet wrote: »

What's your budget and location?

Is the stairs a standard straight run?

I've 2,500 in the BoQ for the stairs, there is one turn about 3 steps from the top. Spec is a red deal stairs with oak handrail.

Also included is 600 for painting.

We're in Dublin.

FiOT

mrsWhippy wrote: »

I've 2,500 in the BoQ for the stairs, there is one turn about 3 steps from the top. Spec is a red deal stairs with oak handrail.

Also included is 600 for painting.

We're in Dublin.

I don't know if you're going self - build or if you have trade in the family but we managed our stairs for 900e (excluding the handrail).

Concrete stairs, straight run with slight curve in it. Oak treads and painted MDF risers. Steel curved bannister clad in MDF and plasterboard and then plastered over. Modern look (in my opinion) without the huge price tag!

mrsWhippy

FiOT wrote: »

I don't know if you're going self - build or if you have trade in the family but we managed our stairs for 900e (excluding the handrail).

Concrete stairs, straight run with slight curve in it. Oak treads and painted MDF risers. Steel curved bannister clad in MDF and plasterboard and then plastered over. Modern look (in my opinion) without the huge price tag!

Absolutely love that. Thanks for sharing.

Do you mind telling me (by PM) who did that for you? I have already contacted a company to get a quote for concrete but I haven't heard back. I assumed the cost of cladding the concrete would have made it too expensive.

Thanks a mil

FiOT

mrsWhippy wrote: »

Absolutely love that. Thanks for sharing.

Do you mind telling me (by PM) who did that for you? I have already contacted a company to get a quote for concrete but I haven't heard back. I assumed the cost of cladding the concrete would have made it too expensive.

Thanks a mil

We actually did it ourselves!

My boyfriend is a carpenter and shuttered out the shape of the stairs in timber. We had our engineer advise us on the steel we needed and grade of concrete and then poured it ourselves. Borrowed some sort of machine that was needed... can't remember - I'm just the Gofer!

But if you have a builder on site, talk to them about the possibility of pouring the stairs in situ. We priced a concrete stairs to be dropped in during the initial build and it was scandalous (anything curved is ridiculous money).

We just bought stair treads in lengths and cut them to suit as due to the curve, every step was a different size and shape., one sheet of MDT did the risers and I just painted them all before they went up.

Just something to think about I guess!!

DOCARCH

FiOT wrote: »

I don't know if you're going self - build or if you have trade in the family but we managed our stairs for 900e (excluding the handrail).

Concrete stairs, straight run with slight curve in it. Oak treads and painted MDF risers. Steel curved bannister clad in MDF and plasterboard and then plastered over. Modern look (in my opinion) without the huge price tag!

That is a beautiful staircase and first floor balustrade!

But, not a hope, in today's market, of doing the likes anything close to E900 on a contractor build or getting sub-contractors to do it! It would be (a significant number of) multiples of that.

A lot/most of the cost would be in labour.

Any idea how long your boyfriend spent doing the form work/shuttering?

Gumbo

I done the following.
Standard red deal stairs but put oak caps and oak handrails in.
Opted for glass instead of balustrades.

DOCARCH

kceire wrote: »

I done the following.
Standard red deal stairs but put oak caps and oak handrails in.
Opted for glass instead of balustrades.

Hmmm...winders. I hope building control don't call! :pac:

Dardania

DOCARCH wrote: »

kceire wrote: »

I done the following.
Standard red deal stairs but put oak caps and oak handrails in.
Opted for glass instead of balustrades.

Hmmm...winders. I hope building control don't call! :pac:

No longer kosher?

Rubberchikken

I've seen a version of the nonstop treads on an otherwise painted stairs and they look great and are safe to climb up and down.
Wouldn't go with the paint/varnish/carpet combo. Too much.

FiOT

DOCARCH wrote: »

That is a beautiful staircase and first floor balustrade!

But, not a hope, in today's market, of doing the likes anything close to E900 on a contractor build or getting sub-contractors to do it! It would be (a significant number of) multiples of that.

A lot/most of the cost would be in labour.

Any idea how long your boyfriend spent doing the form work/shuttering?

Thanks, we were delighted how it turned out, Pinterest idea! Many nights spent chalking the curve upstairs, adjusting a cm here and there!

He spent I'd say about 3 full days shuttering and doing the steelwork, another day or so moving things around until I was happy!

You're right, you'd never get it for that price in a contract - that's why I asked if there was anyone with a trade in the family. We are very lucky to have gotten away with it for that amount, I was corrected and told it was actually about 1100 in the end, all in.

DOCARCH

Dardania wrote: »

No longer kosher?

Building Regulations just says they 'should be avoided'....but not necessarily not used.

mrsWhippy

Kceire, that's the first glass staircase I've actually liked! Looks fab.

What is the definition of a 'winder'?

Gumbo

DOCARCH wrote: »

Hmmm...winders. I hope building control don't call! :pac:

House built in 1996
Local Buulding Control Officer was in aite during the build due to Commencement Notice lodgement. Passed with flying colours

Gumbo

DOCARCH wrote: »

Building Regulations just says they 'should be avoided'....but not necessarily not used.

Or if possible, keep them at the bottom.

mrsWhippy wrote: »

Kceire, that's the first glass staircase I've actually liked! Looks fab.

What is the definition of a 'winder'?

Thanks. It should stand out a bit better once the carpet goes down.
A winder is a stairs on the turn.

mikeysmith

Just on this

If you're going with white timber and carpet throughout the hall

Should the door saddles be painted or just varnished?

Bedroom floors are varnished

OscarWilde

FiOT wrote: »

I don't know if you're going self - build or if you have trade in the family but we managed our stairs for 900e (excluding the handrail).

Concrete stairs, straight run with slight curve in it. Oak treads and painted MDF risers. Steel curved bannister clad in MDF and plasterboard and then plastered over. Modern look (in my opinion) without the huge price tag!

I can't see your pictures, would you mind pm'ing me? I'm just starting a new build and I can't find any stairs I like.