Victorian Rowhouse Stair Project

[nan-nan]

Good morning

Our stairs had been covered in carpet which our tenant trashed. We pulled the carpet off and underneath was old vinyl over top of a brown furry underpad which was glued onto the stairs. That has all been removed and now we are down to the original painted treads and risers. The main problem now is that there are gaps where the risers and treads meet, so that we can see light from the basement stair well, or vice versa. Any suggestions on filling the gap? Trim? Caulking? I believe we will be repainting the stairs. It doesn't look like they ever were finished with shellac. The stairs are enclosed with walls on both sides.

Suggestions are welcome. We've been putting this project off as we dealt with other issues, but the time has come to act.

Thanks!

[Mick_VT]

cove beading on the underside of the front tread / in front of the riser. Tighten the riser to tread joints from underneath at the back of the tread if necessary.

[Don M]

How about 1/2 round or cove molding; any indication something was nailed there originally? Usually the treads & risers are nailed or screwed together from the underside to give more strength to the stairs.

[Gothichome]

Nan Nan. Every thing you need to know about stairs from an 1890 book

http://chestofbooks.com/architecture/Bu ... bt2y0pOKrW

Use the navigation at the bottom of the pages. The blue links in the text tends to take you random subjects within the volume.