Plywood on landing

[Bob]

I am about to embark on a fairly major redecorate of hall/stairs/ landing and as part of this am planning to board over the landing with plywood. I've done this in other rooms and it's created a much better base for carpets given the state of the floorboards.

The problem I foresee is how to deal with where the board meets the edge of the landing at the top of the stairs. There is a roughly semi- circular stair nose here, like on all of the stairs. So I am going to have a step of 6mm or so which I am anticipating will be obvious.

Can anyone think of a way to deal with this that is fairly straightforward. I'm thinking if I could get some material of about the same thickness as the plywood that I can mould to the shape of the nose - kind of wrap it around the nose, I can eliminate the step. But I am not sure what would be suitable.

Bob

[Tabby]

Even small variations in step heights are a safety problem. Best go with 3mm hardboard, and if that seems too thin, replace or turn over any badly damaged boards.

NT

[pete]

Could you sand the edge that will meet the stairs into a taper? It might end a little bit before the stair starts but so long as the carpet is a reasonable weight, that should hold it in place. If it doesn't, a spot of glue (!) to stick the board to the top stair should do the trick.

[Bob]

Thanks for the replies so far. Tabby made a good point about the variation in step height, which was enough to worry me.

Harry's point about wiring under the landing floor is understood but on the rare occasions that I have had to access under the floor in other rooms, I haven't found it to be especially onerous to unscrew the ply. If anything the landing is easier as there tends to be less furniture to get out of the way and it's smaller than any of the rooms. However, if I go for Tabby's suggestion of using hardboard, as this is usually fixed with nails (panel pins) as I understand, it makes accessibility and re-instatement a bit more difficult.

Having done a bit more research I have a further suggestion. It seems to be possible to get nosing covers in a variety of materials, thicknesses and profiles. It occurs to me that if I could get something suitable with a 6mm depth, I could affix these to all stairs and put plywood on the treads as well as the landing. This keeps a consistent rise for all stairs. Obviously this is a lot more work but if I am prepared to do it, can anyone see any problems?

Thanks,

Bob

[Chris J Dixon]

I may have misunderstood, but doesn't your proposal simply move the problem large step to the bottom of the flight, or do you also intend to cover the hall floor?

Chris

[Tabby]

I'm NT, not Tabby, cuoldnt see how to correct the issue on google groups.

If its just a small landing and youre carpeting it, does the hardboard even need fixing down? Carpet and grip rods should hold it

NT

[Bob]

The original problem as pointed out to me was a potential safety issue with a change in riser height on the top step. Your point did occur to me but it seemed to me that this is less of an issue on the bottom step. Furthermore, the plan is to have a hardwood floor in the hall and the carpet the stairs and landing so there was going to be a difference anyway. The thing I am not sure about is in what direction that difference would be. How does the thickness of the hardwood flooring over whatever underlay may or may not be needed compare with carpet plus underlay? If thicker then I can afford a slightly higher first stair. If thinner then I maybe I would need to think again.

In any case, the plan I proposed is now looking less practical anyway. When I actually went and looked at the stairs I noticed that the bottom stair is what I believe is called a Bullnose Step (see

for an example). So the nose covers I had in mind wouldn't fit this anyway.

Bob

[Bob]

Yes I think you are probably right. This is starting to look like the most practical option.

Bob

[Tabby]

I'm now having visions of someone trying to fit hardboard to grip rods the same way carpet is done :)

NT