Basement stairs finishing
#1
07-23-17, 12:09 PM
Basement stairs finishing
Hi all - first time posting here!
I am a DIYer who knows his limits. I am in the early stages of finishing my basement. I pulled up some old carpet on the stairs leading from our kitchen to our basement and found a mess. The steps are old, uneven, and cracked concrete with the exception of the top three stairs which are made of wood (probably added on sometime after the original stairs). The treads and the risers are all different heights/lengths and pose a safety issue. I am worried about installing new wood over the existing concrete/wood because of clearance for people walking down the stairs (I already have to duck!)
I "think" my options are:
1.) Chip away some of the old concrete in some areas, and build upon the existing in other areas to get equal height. - This would probably take some calculating to get each tread/riser equal.
2.) Demolish the entire set of stairs as they currently stand and hire someone to put in new stairs - (I think a problem with this is that the concrete stairs are on the perimeter of the basement and I would hate to demolish them and cause structural issues.
I was going to call a contractor/mason for some advice but thought I'd give this a shot!
Thanks, Brian
I am a DIYer who knows his limits. I am in the early stages of finishing my basement. I pulled up some old carpet on the stairs leading from our kitchen to our basement and found a mess. The steps are old, uneven, and cracked concrete with the exception of the top three stairs which are made of wood (probably added on sometime after the original stairs). The treads and the risers are all different heights/lengths and pose a safety issue. I am worried about installing new wood over the existing concrete/wood because of clearance for people walking down the stairs (I already have to duck!)
I "think" my options are:
1.) Chip away some of the old concrete in some areas, and build upon the existing in other areas to get equal height. - This would probably take some calculating to get each tread/riser equal.
2.) Demolish the entire set of stairs as they currently stand and hire someone to put in new stairs - (I think a problem with this is that the concrete stairs are on the perimeter of the basement and I would hate to demolish them and cause structural issues.
I was going to call a contractor/mason for some advice but thought I'd give this a shot!
Thanks, Brian
Last edited by PJmax; 07-23-17 at 12:15 PM. Reason: reoriented/enhanced pictures
#3
07-23-17, 05:24 PM
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Quicker to demolish & rebuild
Hello,
If it was my basement I would just demolish the old stairs with a jackhammer and put in a new set of steps. Before you do this, however, measure where a code-compliant set of steps would end up on your basement floor, and clearance above - there may be good reasons why your steps are/were made they way they were, and removing them may make you subject to new code compliance.
Graham Leach
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If it was my basement I would just demolish the old stairs with a jackhammer and put in a new set of steps. Before you do this, however, measure where a code-compliant set of steps would end up on your basement floor, and clearance above - there may be good reasons why your steps are/were made they way they were, and removing them may make you subject to new code compliance.
Graham Leach
----
