DIY Stair Flip

Every single time you face walking up or down those awful, old and faded stairs you think "one day I will re do these. I am here to show you how to flip them YOURSELF for 1000$

I partnered with Kent Building Supplies, they have 49 locations in Atlantic Canada. #AtlanticWeAre

It's hard to say exactly what you will need but here's the basics, although every stair flip is different and presents its own challenges. With this supply list I would say your about 98% covered. Please let me know if you think anything else should be added to my list for future DIY-ers.

MATERIAL

-New Stair Treads you can either make them, use lumber, laminated treads or solid wood like I did.

https://kent.ca/48-x-1132-x-1012-maple-reversible-return-tread1011745

-New Riser Boards, DIY MDF, veneer or solid wood. I used veneer.

https://kent.ca/42-x-34-x-712-oakmaple-veneer-reversible-stair-riser1011809

-1x10 Clear pine or MDF board for your stringers

https://kent.ca/1-x-8-x-8-pine-select-d4s-smooth-board1016697

-PL Premium

https://kent.ca/pl-premium-295-ml-paper-cartridge-construction-adhesive1019060

-Paint and or Stain, i use SICO Muse!

https://kent.ca/catalog/product/view/id/52715/

-White Chalking (if your painting) any brand works fine!

-Wood-fill (if your staining )

TOOLS

-Mitre saw

-Circular Saw

-Multi tool or Hand Saw to fine tweak your birds mouth on your stringers) Explaintion below

-Sander

-Air Nailer

-Drill

Measuring Tape

-Square

-Level

First things first- DEMO, get those old railings and those old stringers OUT OF THERE. I can't stress enough though to keep a spindle or two and a piece of your railings, maybe even your stringers, there's no easier way to flip them then to trace the profile onto new trim but if not ill show you how to start from the beginning with your measurements down below.

Once all of your old staircase is removed, take you stair stringer and lay it flat along your treads from top to bottom. Make sure your board reaches the full length and both corners are above your top stair.

Then take your level and on each step draw a line that is level with your treads and level with your risers, creating little triangles all the way up (their called a birds mouth)

Once these are all cut. (don't worry. i had to go back a few times for some tweaking, i used a multi tool to get in the corners. The good thing is ill show you how to hide any first-time imperfections) I painted them because i wasnt staining my whole set, if you are leave this until the end. Painting them now allows you not to be so particular and ruin your new treads.

Once these are in and set/dry. you may or may not notice the lip your current treads make. if you don't have this problem skip this step but chances are you do. (its the way they build stairs)

I used all of the cut offs from my birds mouth (stair stringers) and fastened them (PL and screw) to the riser, that way then when i put my new one on it'll reach the full height of the riser like the above photo. No, It wont mess up your rise/run because when you do it to all of them, they stay the same.

Alright, your risers and skirting is on. Now you need to measure your treads and cut them all, don't assume that because one is 34 3/8 means they all are, houses settle, things shift, measure them all individually.

my biggest tip for your treads is TOO MUCH PL is a great thing. i notice that my last two stairs i was impatient and ran low on PL, instead of waiting for the next day and picking up more i used only half of what i did for the other stairs and those are the ONLY two that have a slight squeak! The rest don't make a sound. Sit on them, weigh them down, whatever you have to do but plan your escape carefully instead of doing all 14 and not being able to walk back up (i don't have a basement door) so i did 3 at a time, let them set and the next morning did 3 more. Maybe theres a better way? Probably but thats what i did.

Now this next step brings me to why you kept some spindles and rail. An easy way to find out your railing angles, trace the old one! mine are all cut on 30 degrees. i didn't change my railing i kept the spacings and numbers the same because it worked and I didn't want to mess with it.

Simply just replace each piece with a new one, the only reason i wanted to replace mine was because they were curved and dated, i went with square and sleek. Railings are not as scary as you think, especially with the old pieces there to trace, and a second set of hands to help hold (i learned the hard way)

TIP: STAIN BEFORE. Again practice your patience and stain/poly before you put your treads and railings on that way you're not trying to cut in and tape off, their just done!

The Chalking is for the end, there was a few slightly hairline gaps once the wood settles post-paint so i simply just chalked them and painted to match, easy fix!

I hope you learned something here today! Below is a link to a video of How to do the stairs as well as my instagram.

Happy DIY-ing!

https://youtu.be/f1_4UefhYWY

https://www.instagram.com/dc_woodworks/