Stair trim,First trim with the Kapex

J

JLB builders LLC

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Jun 5, 2011
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I had a client who removed the carpet from their stairs during the middle of my remodel. I sanded the pine tread and risers with the Fein Multimaster and Fein 6 inch sander. Over a week, after I was done the first part of the job, she stained and polyurethane them. For pine they came out nice with a rustic flair and she did a great job minus the tiny foot print of here 2 yr old  .

Last week I installed new Oak flooring (Fawn), about 800 sq ft. then My Kapex came in. Yay! So I had some fun. I must say that angle finder came in hand.
[attachimg=#]
 
I don't really care for that.  Not that you did a bad job or anything but, a real skirt would have looked much better.
 
Jamie,

That zig-zag does have a strange look to it or maybe I should say unusual considering how the homeowner obviously is pleased with that look.  I too prefer the skirt style.  Nice job and hope you have more "fun" with your Kapex.

Intentional shot of the Fusion 15?  [tongue]
 
I prefer the 1x skirt and trim running along that. The Sheetrock job was bad and had huge gaps and cutting a 1x8 or 1x10 for each tread and riser would have been hell. Not to mention how out of plumb,level,and sq it is. They saw a pic of another house I did with this same pattern and wanted it. So....... They have it, now their neighbor wants it  [crying]
 
my first time bringing the kapex onsite was for the exact same skirting project.
i reckon it looks crap and i was not happy with the finished product.

but i had the same issues with plasterboard and the timber flooring on the stairs should have had cork strips either side.
no choice, had to finish with skirting.

the angle finder was awesome for this skirting, as no two angles were the same.

justin
 
WarnerConstCo. said:
I don't really care for that.  Not that you did a bad job or anything but, a real skirt would have looked much better.
Click to expand...

+1 on that.  Craftsmanship aside, I much prefer the "gentle flow" of a skirtboard with trim over the jangled (for lack of a better term) look of this.  Just because something CAN be done, doesn't mean that it SHOULD be done.  Again, no slam on the craftsman for having followed his customer's preference. 

[smile]
 
I have a customer that a buddy of his notched out the 3/4" lip (overhang) on the tread and ran base down it [scared] so there is a triangle void from the base to the riser to the tread. Looks terrible.
Anyways, the moral is, is that the only way to fix his problem and the pictured one above is to take out the treads and risers, put a skirt board in and then re-fit the steps..... but not everyone wants to pay all that $$$ just to put a skirt board in.

Looks good JLB, enjoy the Kapex!
 
Using more than one person for this, you could place your skirtboard in position resting on the nosings of all the treads.  Using a large piece of 1x, place the 1x on each tread butted up to the nosing of the tread above and scribe the side of the 1x next to the upper nosing, then scribe the top of the 1x.  Yes, it's a good amount of work, but it'll transfer the differences of each tread and riser so you have a template to cut out, then slide into place.  No pulling of treads and risers.
 
Yeah Its a Military Family and he has 4 girls  [scared]. They flooring contractor was a friend of his, gave him a price for the floor and 1x skirt running up the stairs. The week he was suppose to start the work while they were out of town he quit his business. No communication or warning just shut his company down. Since I did some work there weeks before he asked if I could help so I measured the floor, he ordered it and picked it up and my son and I installed it. Before the floor I got 3 jobs from his word of mouth. I also price differently for military folks, its not always about the money, my way of thanking them for my freedom. Might be why 90% of my jobs are from military people, I do know when no one else had work around here at all that I still had it trickling in.  [big grin]

Anyway I really like the Festool stuff and here is a link of some more work. Alot of it is the same house. Removing walls and putting in LVLs to open the space up. Most of the work is done by me, once in awhile on weekends and summer I have 2 sons (16 & 17) that luv money and work,helping me.
http://s474.photobucket.com/albums/rr103/jlbaxe/Brown%20Project/
 
Ken Nagrod said:
Using more than one person for this, you could place your skirtboard in position resting on the nosings of all the treads.  Using a large piece of 1x, place the 1x on each tread butted up to the nosing of the tread above and scribe the side of the 1x next to the upper nosing, then scribe the top of the 1x.  Yes, it's a good amount of work, but it'll transfer the differences of each tread and riser so you have a template to cut out, then slide into place.  No pulling of treads and risers.
Click to expand...
That is exactly what I was going to do, they change my plan. lol
 
Thanks I downloading pics then im going to arrange them in order by job. I have a lot of repeat clients so my pics are all over the place in my iPhoto on my Mac.

I have about 6 ARs lol.  My hobies ranges from Gun collecting to Guitars. I recently purged both and sold about 6 guns and a bunch of guitars,amps and effects. Gets to a point you have wayyyyyyy to much. Tools are next. [big grin]
 
I'm not sure if the company went out of business, but I don't see why you couldn't make one or get someone to make one for you.  I know that plastic leaf style gauge is available in different lengths through autobody supply stores as a panel contour gauge.  Mine is red in color.  The flat blades will touch the skirtboard whereas a metal pin style gauge wouldn't rest against the board for scribing.
 
if you put the oper sized triangle (1/4 inch thick) in each of those zig zags. you could run a moulding up allong them and get a simailar look
 
Ken Nagrod said:
I'm not sure if the company went out of business, but I don't see why you couldn't make one or get someone to make one for you.  I know that plastic leaf style gauge is available in different lengths through autobody supply stores as a panel contour gauge.  Mine is red in color.  The flat blades will touch the skirtboard whereas a metal pin style gauge wouldn't rest against the board for scribing.
Click to expand...

Vitrex is still around and makes three sizes of the good red tool - http://www.vitrex.co.uk/products.php?cat=4.  The challenge is to find someone here in NA that sells them. 

[smile]
 
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