Stairs issue

[chunkolini]

My other half has a tight bend at the bottom of her stairs, and fragile mum is visiting soon.
A carpenter has quoted £1300 to extend the bottom. See picture.
I wonder if you can buy the extension premade or is it a custom job?

 

[Shox Dr]

half landing on the 4th. with standard treads 3,2,1?

 

[Gareth J]

Decent rails both sides would only help...?

 

[Barking Mat]

I'm facing similar problems, sticking a bed downstairs is my cunning simple solution.

 

[Barking Mat]

If it's only temporary, some cut up pallets, with mdf on top, or anything, would be cheaper.

 

[Agroshield]

Put 'bottom step' into Google and take your pick Estwing. Richard Burridge is a supplier of generic stair parts, so if you find a site that sells his products, they will likely have something.

 

[sako243]

Seems a wee bit steep. My neighbour is a bloody good carpenter and I reckon he'd be able to do what @Shox Dr suggested in a day. Excluding carpeting etc.

He's a fantastic combination of cheap, fast and bloody good.

He's about £30/h I think but that wouldn't include material costs.

 

[sako243]

For reference pulling these mahogany stairs apart, sanding them back (a challenge in itself), building new stringers, tying it all into the old stringers down the side after restoring them and then sanding and varnishing them.

I think that cost about £1k in labour. The only bit of timber bought in was a large lump of doug fir to replace the bottom tread / floor.

 

[chunkolini]

Cheers all. Kath is impressed again by my online mates.
Burbidge has a supplier just down the road from her.
You have confirmed that the quote seems a bit OTT

 

[slim_boy_fat]

For reference pulling these mahogany stairs apart, sanding them back (a challenge in itself), building new stringers, tying it all into the old stringers down the side after restoring them and then sanding and varnishing them.

I think that cost about £1k in labour. The only bit of timber bought in was a large lump of doug fir to replace the bottom tread / floor.

View attachment 392267

Do you have a resident ghost?

 

[Olderisbetter]

Just pointing out turning a room downstairs into a bedroom for disability needs can lower your council tax band, so a bit of £££ saved

 

[Hitch]

Do you just want to extend the bottom step, by making it a wider tread? Making it a bull nose tread that extends past the newel post?

Bit of ply to make a box and top bull nose tread, cover the front in a bit of bendy mdf or make a bit with some kerf cuts...
Fix firmly, cover the top of the new tread and existing with a bit of 3/4mm ply to cover both so it feels as one, once carpeted it'll be fine.
I'd be reluctant to remove the nosing from the bottom tread or modify the existing, should it layer want or need to be removed.
To make it look right, you'll want to modify the skirting/add a bit of fake stringer to it looks original.

And add a sturdy handrail.
Depending on how far you extend, it may be an awkward step, and become more of a pain.

 

[chunkolini]

Ive debated doing something like that.
But Im wary of modifying her house. I think id prefer it being done by pros

 

[Trevanion]

Just extending the bottom tread to create a bullnose step? That's a fairly simple job. Carpenters as a rule charge a bloody fortune for work outside of their usual remit, someone local just had a stair rebuilt by a pair of carpenters using off-the-shelf oak stair parts, and installing glass instead of spindle balustrading, they still used the original staircase as the base for the work and the job actually cost about a third more than just having a brand new bespoke staircase including glass because it took them weeks of work on site instead of days in a workshop equipped for that kind of work. Possibly finding a proper joiner who does this sort of work regularly might be a better option, it's a half a day job for someone who knows what they're doing with the materials pre-prepared.

If you wish to do it yourself, @Hitch above has written a good option that involves little actual modifying of the existing stair, otherwise you'll have to likely remove the bottom tread from the newel and string, notch out the newel and extend the string along the wall, and fit the new bullnose tread and riser. Definitely not beyond a complete novice but still a daunting job for someone who isn't familiar with this sort of work to go and rip the bottom step of their stair out.

It's hard to say without looking at it in person, but I would say those stairs probably aren't compliant to modern standards and regulations.

 

[sako243]

Do you have a resident ghost?

Only photo I had to hand had the little one standing on it and didn't want that public.

 

[Hitch]

Ive debated doing something like that.
But Im wary of modifying her house. I think id prefer it being done by pros

The way I mention would need no modification to the original stairs, bar a couple of decent screws into the newel and a few little ones in the top of the tread.
Skirting board/stringer just needs a bit with a routed edge to match stuck in the corner and painted white just so it extends up past the carpeted tread.

You could even do it without modifying the main carpet, just sit it on the top. If its timber floor, you could carefully screw it down through the carpet.

 

[addjunkie]

Put a handrail like this upthe opposite side to the newl post, give her something to get-a good grip on. Idid similar for the mother in law, two hands is better than 1 and all that

Howdens Softwood Pig Ear 4.2m Stair Handrail

For extra support and reassurance, you can fix this handrail to a wall running parallel to the balustrade of your staircase. Constructed of robust knotty softwood, it has been specially crafted with smooth curves to fit neatly in the palm of your hand for easy gripping. It comes ready for...

www.howdens.com

 

[gaz1]

My other half has a tight bend at the bottom of her stairs, and fragile mum is visiting soon.
A carpenter has quoted £1300 to extend the bottom. See picture.
I wonder if you can buy the extension premade or is it a custom job?
View attachment 392242

yours is simple to change from the third step up

make that a landing step level with the first step then create a 3 step from scratch easy enough to do and one side is fastened to the wall the other to the newel post

 

[Erie Fred]

Pulley under the roof eaves, open window and a bosun's chair up the side of the house...
Granny will just looooove it.

 

[northwest]

I need to make a set of stairs for the back bedroom, Grandma came to stat on Monday as I had to go to London at short notice and we needed a dog sitter, unfortunately she tripped coming out of the En suite and better half spent most of Tuesday in A&E, the bedroom looked like a crime scene! The staircase up to get out of that bedroom is something I lashed up about ten years ago so not really up to any sort of standard. Best get my act together methinks.