Q: I had a professional floorer install a natural oak (2 1/4″ engineered hardwood) in my living area and two sets of stairs. My question is – The stairs are installed with a lip at the very end of the tread (the thickness of the engineered wood, which was glued together at a 45 degree to make the stair noses). The installer told me that we could not cut the ends (overlap) of the stair tread off (it’s a 8″ x 12′ cut to the width of the stair treads with about 1.5 – 1.75″ overhang on each tread) due to rise and run codes for stairways.
Now, I have this lip that every time I walk up and down my steps hurts my wife, kids and my feet. Very frustrating.
I am looking for some type of 1/8″ thick x 45 degree by 3′ – 4′ length trim piece (or a “quick fix”?) so that I don’t have this sharp angle right where everyone steps, and so I can sweep the floors/steps without going nuts. Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
A: In my view, the lip should have been cut off flush to the risers and a proper stair nosing installed. I would think the manufacturer of your engineered floor also makes stair nose and other transition strips to match their products. I guess the horse is out of the barn now though. You are going to have to try and hunt down a tiny piece of quarter round or such trim at local building supply/lumber yards. You might even have to find something close and adjust it to make it fit.
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