Side door stairs - can I trim plywood and not alter the stair structure?
#1
08-06-19, 09:50 PM
Side door stairs - can I trim plywood and not alter the stair structure?
Our side entrance has a small 3 step down to the landing for the doorway. In the basement below, the stairs have a couple of plywood right angle pieces that jut out and are a nuisance and an eye sore.
Can I just cut the plywood along the red lines in the pics and not compromise the stair's structure and strength? I hope I'm making sense.
Can I just cut the plywood along the red lines in the pics and not compromise the stair's structure and strength? I hope I'm making sense.
Last edited by PJmax; 08-07-19 at 08:30 PM. Reason: resized pictures
#4
08-07-19, 05:06 AM
Group Moderator
#5
08-07-19, 07:21 AM
Thanks for replying Pilot Dane - "head banging corners" is a good description of them... they are an eye sore too.
Can/should I trim the plywood completey flush with the angled stair side board or leave a couple of inches away like the red line shows in the pic?
Can/should I trim off some of the horizontal 2x6 side platform lumber (at an approx a 45 degree angle) as well as a couple inches of the double layer of sub flooring? It would give more head room and would finish it off nicely. Would this reduce the integrity/structural strength of the stair structure at all?
Can/should I trim the plywood completey flush with the angled stair side board or leave a couple of inches away like the red line shows in the pic?
Can/should I trim off some of the horizontal 2x6 side platform lumber (at an approx a 45 degree angle) as well as a couple inches of the double layer of sub flooring? It would give more head room and would finish it off nicely. Would this reduce the integrity/structural strength of the stair structure at all?
#7
08-15-19, 04:17 PM
Group Moderator
Any wood below the skirt isn't doing anything. (Top picture, 1 1/2" above your red line on the left side.)
I have no idea what that wavy plywood is doing there either unless someone though it would be a good place for a shelf.
I have no idea what that wavy plywood is doing there either unless someone though it would be a good place for a shelf.
#8
08-15-19, 04:25 PM
Group Moderator
By the way that plywood is set up..... it looks like that was a cabinet at one time and then taken apart.
The plywood is doing nothing for the integrity of the stairs.
The plywood is doing nothing for the integrity of the stairs.
#9
08-15-19, 04:48 PM
Thanks for the responses PJMax, Xsleeper and Pilot Dane. So what is supporting the stair platform in the both corners? It feels solid enough when one puts weight on the stairs...
#10
08-15-19, 08:51 PM
Group Moderator
A little hard to tell how it is built from 2 pictures, but it looks like the plywood is a landing (that extends out tge other side) and as long as you don't cut off any parts that are nailed to the sides of your structure, the extraneous parts that hang out and extend out the back are doing nothing but making it look goofy.
If you do cut off those lower triangles, and there is a fastener or two into those 2x6s, you just might want to add a couple more screws above your cut line to replace any fasteners that were cut off.
If you do cut off those lower triangles, and there is a fastener or two into those 2x6s, you just might want to add a couple more screws above your cut line to replace any fasteners that were cut off.
