Installing vinyl planks on stairs.

[Sid 03]

I am starting to install some planks on stars and wanted to know what most people did for installing the stair-nosing.

I watched several videos on installing stair-nosing was considering different ways of cutting the nose of the existing pre-fab'ed stairs like the following:

Picture I drew of some options:

of the existing: What the vendor sold us as raised stair-nose that matched the planks.

Then I found these videos on how to bend stair-nose out of existing planks. Has anyone ever done this with success ?

company claims they will do it for you, but I don't see any contact info: Thanks

[Marilyn Manson]

Is there supposed to be a link for "What the vendor sold us as raised stair-nose that matched the planks"?

I've never tried bending VP to create a bullnose, but I'm going to test the method used by Greg. While his jig is more complicated to build than the second one, I'd expect more consistent results than using a single board and a few rocks.

I wonder how seams in the bullnose would work out. My steps are 40" wide. The plank I put in the foyer was only 36" long. If I wanted to match, I'd either have to chose a plank that comes 40"+ widths or have an end seam. As I'm sure you know, you don't usually see seams in stair treads.

I especially liked his sliding jig for cutting the treads to length. Sure beats using the Tom Silva method, which I've used.

Send us pics when you get done. ;-)

[Marilyn Manson]

Sorry...I meant Cliff's jig, not "Greg".

[hubops]

Thanks for sharing - especially " born before H & S " ..

The plank vinyl flooring that I have seen - " floats " ie : it isn't glued or anchored - but rather it clicks-in and resists any minor movements by the structural inertia of the whole floor being attached. I wonder how the use of vinyl planks - on stairs - affects this stability ? How is it attached ? My worry would be - the first time that the appliance store delivery guys march up & down - twice - with the new and old < 300 lb.> washer and dryer - the vinyl planks and noses - < home-made or factory made > might not survive .. John T.

[Clare Snyder]

The vinyl can be glued onto stairs and either vinyl or aluminum nosing can be screwed or glued. Planks can be heat bent around the tread to form an "integrated nosing" which can be glued to the tread. I would pre-form them over a slightly undersized tread to form a good tight fit to glue on and likely staple it to the bottom of the nose portion of the tread just as "belt and suspenders engineering"

[Marilyn Manson]

Construction adhesive.

That is a valid concern which also applies to wooden stairs, carpet, etc.

One of many solutions is Ram Board.

[Sid 03]

Here is a homemade stair-gig:

could have used some finder washers on the top side ?!

I don't know if I liked the idea of placing a joint on the stair-tread, When I put in the flooring at the bottom of the stairs I tried not to place an butt-joints at the bottom of the stairs. My theory is that each time someone steps on a plank it flexes a little and the joints are the weakest part of the system and would break there first. So avoiding a lot of extra joints in the high traffic areas is probably a good idea.

Did anyone try bending a plank yet ?