Hi all, I have two sets of six concrete stairs with a landing in the middle
I have to fix up.

We have two small kids who love to play on there and of course we are scared
they fall and hurt them selves.

We might go for a thick carpet but I wondered if it was feasible to box the
stairs in? They would still be hard but not as hard as concrete.

The rest of the house has sanded original floorboards stained and varnished
and we love them. Putting the thick carpet on the stairs would kinda spoil
the look of things.

Your thoughts gentlemen and women.

Regards Alan.

"Alan"  wrote in message 
news:d41cu3$9l5$1@titan.btinternet.com...

> Hi all, I have two sets of six concrete stairs with a landing in the 
> middle
> I have to fix up.
>
> We have two small kids who love to play on there and of course we are 
> scared
> they fall and hurt them selves.
>
> We might go for a thick carpet but I wondered if it was feasible to box 
> the
> stairs in? They would still be hard but not as hard as concrete.
>
> The rest of the house has sanded original floorboards stained and 
> varnished
> and we love them. Putting the thick carpet on the stairs would kinda spoil
> the look of things.
>
> Your thoughts gentlemen and women.
>
> Regards Alan.


Interesting post because I am about to do the same thing, for the same 
reason, in my case to cellar steps. My thought is to cut the tread out of 
nice 18mm ply and nail half round beading to cover the leading edge. But I'm 
not sure how to attach the tread to the step. One way is to  bolt though to 
the (in my case) stone underneath, but this will show a bolt or screw head 
on the surface and this would need to be recessed. I thought I might do a 
trial where I use gripfil and glue the tread to the stone. If anyone's done 
this and it works I'd like to know. The risers could also be covered in the 
same way, although this doesn't really help with the objective.

Probably a good idea to make sure that final stair has tread and riser 
dimensions which conform to Bulding regs. My steps are victorian and steep 
(and different), but even so I think that even if I add 18mm to the bottom 
step the step height is reasonable (can't remember  what it should be 
something like no more than 220mm - maybe someone could help on this).

Alistair

"Ali Mac"  wrote in message 
news:Tvo9e.13941$WP4.13616@newsfe6-gui.ntli.net...

> "Alan"  wrote in message 
> news:d41cu3$9l5$1@titan.btinternet.com...
>> Hi all, I have two sets of six concrete stairs with a landing in the 
>> middle
>> I have to fix up.
>>
>> We have two small kids who love to play on there and of course we are 
>> scared
>> they fall and hurt them selves.
>>
>> We might go for a thick carpet but I wondered if it was feasible to box 
>> the
>> stairs in? They would still be hard but not as hard as concrete.
>>
>> The rest of the house has sanded original floorboards stained and 
>> varnished
>> and we love them. Putting the thick carpet on the stairs would kinda 
>> spoil
>> the look of things.
>>
>> Your thoughts gentlemen and women.
>>
>> Regards Alan.
>
> Interesting post because I am about to do the same thing, for the same 
> reason, in my case to cellar steps. My thought is to cut the tread out of 
> nice 18mm ply and nail half round beading to cover the leading edge. But 
> I'm not sure how to attach the tread to the step. One way is to  bolt 
> though to the (in my case) stone underneath, but this will show a bolt or 
> screw head on the surface and this would need to be recessed. I thought I 
> might do a trial where I use gripfil and glue the tread to the stone. If 
> anyone's done this and it works I'd like to know. The risers could also be 
> covered in the same way, although this doesn't really help with the 
> objective.
>
> Probably a good idea to make sure that final stair has tread and riser 
> dimensions which conform to Bulding regs. My steps are victorian and steep 
> (and different), but even so I think that even if I add 18mm to the bottom 
> step the step height is reasonable (can't remember  what it should be 
> something like no more than 220mm - maybe someone could help on this).
>
> Alistair

WHOA there!

If your steps are concrete, they are almost certainly reinforced.  Under no 
circumstances do you want to damage the steel reinforcement.  Stick to 
glueing to the surface, bolting could cause catastrophic failure if you take 
out the reinforcement.

Al