Staircase Remodeling

What changes on a stair that stays in place

Most stairs in older houses are structurally fine and visually tired. Treads are worn hollow in the middle, carpet was laid over oak decades ago, a painted railing has been touched up a dozen times, or a builder-grade stair in a newer colonial looks out of place after the rest of the house was updated. Remodeling keeps the stringers and the location, and replaces or refinishes what you see and touch.

The scope can be small or close to a full rebuild above the stringers. Some jobs are new oak treads with new risers and a refinished rail. Others replace every baluster, the handrail and the newel posts. We look at the stair with you, tell you what is sound and what is not, and put the options in writing so you choose what gets done.

Older stairs also tell you about the house. A stringer that has pulled away from the wall, a landing that has dropped or a gap opening between the treads and the skirt can point to settling or a framing problem below. If we see signs like that, we look underneath before pricing any finish work, because new treads on a moving stair will not stay tight.

If you need a stair somewhere new, or the old one is coming out entirely, that is new construction and it has its own page.

Treads, risers and the squeak underneath

Squeaks come from wood rubbing on wood or on nails: a tread that has shrunk away from its riser, a wedge under the tread that has worked loose, or a stringer that has shifted. Where the underside of the stair is open, from a basement or a closet, we glue and block treads from below without touching the finish. Where it is closed in, we work from above with screws set below the surface and plugged.

When treads are replaced, we measure the rise of every step. Older stairs often have steps of slightly different heights, especially at the top and bottom where flooring was added later. Uneven risers are a real trip hazard, because your feet expect every step to be the same. A new tread can sometimes take up a small difference. A larger one gets discussed before we start.

Pulling carpet off an old stair usually reveals tack strips, staples and paint lines. Some oak treads clean up well. Others are too worn or too patched to save, and new treads look better than an aggressive sanding that leaves the nosings thin.

Nosings matter too. A worn, rounded-over nosing is where feet slip, especially coming down in socks. New treads restore a crisp, consistent nosing on every step, and on an open stair we add a returned nosing at the exposed end so each tread looks finished from the side.

Uneven risers are a real trip hazard, because your feet expect every step to be the same.

Railings, balusters and newel posts that hold up to code

A loose railing is the most common complaint we hear about older stairs, and it is a safety problem, not a cosmetic one. Newel posts that were never fastened through to the framing start to rock after years of being grabbed at the bottom of the stair. We anchor new or existing newels to the framing with concealed hardware rather than relying on finish nails.

Replaced railings have to meet the current code under 780 CMR, which sets handrail height, guard height along open sides and landings, and the maximum gap between balusters. Many older stairs were built before those rules and have balusters spaced too far apart or a guard too low at the top landing. We point out where yours falls short and include the corrections in the written scope.

Style comes next: square or turned balusters, painted or stained, wood or iron, and a handrail profile that suits the house. In an older home we often match the original profile so the new rail looks like it belongs there.

Opening up a closed-in stair

Many Capes and colonials have a stair boxed in by walls on both sides. Removing one of those walls and replacing it with a guard and balusters opens the stair to the living room and changes how the whole first floor feels. It is also a framing job, because the wall may support the stair stringer, the floor above or both.

We look at what the wall carries before proposing anything. Often the stringer can be supported with new framing and the opening finished with a new guard. If the wall carries floor load, the plan includes a header or beam, and we say so up front. The newly exposed side of the stair then needs a finished skirt board, returned tread ends and trim where only plaster used to be.

Opening a stair can also bring the lead paint question into play. Stair walls in houses built before 1978 usually carry decades of paint layers, and taking one down follows lead-safe setup and cleanup. The work exposes the edge of the floor above as well, which gets a finished nosing or a matching board so the opening looks original.

Keeping the stair usable while we work on it

The stair is usually the only way upstairs, so the work is planned around that. Treads are often replaced in sections so there is always a safe path. When the stair has to be out of service, even for part of a day, you know ahead of time. Dust from sanding is contained, and stains and finishes are chosen with drying time and odor in mind when the family is home.

Finishing a stair takes more patience than most people expect. Each coat of stain or polyurethane needs to dry before anyone walks on it, so we often finish every other tread first and the rest after, which keeps the stair usable through the process. Painted risers and stringers get the same care where they meet the stained treads, because that line is what the eye reads first.

Through all of it, you have one person to call. Steve sets the scope with you, and if a riser turns out to be cracked or a stringer damaged once the carpet comes up, you hear about it the same day, with photos and a plain explanation, before anything is added to the job.

See the rest of our structural work, or browse the gallery for rooms we have finished.