Reply To: Stair edges

[James]

Hi Joe.

I agree – this is not something I prefer to do but as you say, here we are. I have attached some pics with more descriptive examples.

I am not concerned with the contact/joint between the tread and riser. I have some specialized caulk which is a very nice match to the flooring and it looks great and you cannot notice any gapping – I got it from a supplier called Prosol up here in Canada. I also used it on the edges and it looked nice until I painted the stair skirt… When painting the stair skirt, the paint bleeds on the caulking and makes it look awful. I tried sealing the tape like I do when painting walls where 2 colours on connecting walls will meet which is a great technique but didn’t work in this application – I still get tear out and it looks very poor.

So now I am thinking this:

1.) Clean up and prep (for the 4th time)

2.) Apply the colour-matched caulking.

3.) Mask off tight edge using low adhesion tape, seal with clear caulking and remove as much excess as possible. Even if there is tear out it may not be noticeable due to the clear caulking…

4.) Paint stair skirt and pull tape – hopefully live with the result.

The photos show examples of edges with and without the caulking. I am pretty sure that process will at least look decent. Looking forward to your thoughts.

[James]

Hi Joe.

I agree – this is not something I prefer to do but as you say, here we are. I have attached some pics with more descriptive examples.

I am not concerned with the contact/joint between the tread and riser. I have some specialized caulk which is a very nice match to the flooring and it looks great and you cannot notice any gapping – I got it from a supplier called Prosol up here in Canada. I also used it on the edges and it looked nice until I painted the stair skirt… When painting the stair skirt, the paint bleeds on the caulking and makes it look awful. I tried sealing the tape like I do when painting walls where 2 colours on connecting walls will meet which is a great technique but didn’t work in this application – I still get tear out and it looks very poor.

So now I am thinking this:

1.) Clean up and prep (for the 4th time)

2.) Apply the colour-matched caulking.

3.) Mask off tight edge using low adhesion tape, seal with clear caulking and remove as much excess as possible. Even if there is tear out it may not be noticeable due to the clear caulking…

4.) Paint stair skirt and pull tape – hopefully live with the result.

The photos show examples of edges with and without the caulking. I am pretty sure that process will at least look decent. Looking forward to your thoughts.