# In desperate help with stair skirt / trim



## noiseordinance (May 2, 2018)

Hey guys. I have a 1950s split level home I bought several months back. I remodeled the upstairs and used luxury laminate flooring since the prior wood flooring was badly damaged (someday I will have it professionally refinished, but that's besides the point). I removed a chunk of the old stair skirt to install the flooring and am looking to install a new stair skirt that will be compatible with my trim.

The trim I'm using throughout the whole upstairs and (eventually downstairs) is 1/2" thick. It looks like this: https://i.imgur.com/Pq0YQIc.jpg

The previous stair skirt is 3/4" thick, and I'm noticing most pieces of replacement wood at HD / Lowes are also 3/4" thick. I don't really see a whole lot in the way of 1/2" thick wood that appears straight / flat enough to be a suitable replacement. 

It looks like I'm left with one of two options: I either go with 3/4" baseboard wood from HD / Lowes, and run my trim along it, which would not be flush and in my mind would look silly. Or I can call around to various lumber yards to see if they sell 1/2" boards.

If I do stick with 3/4" wood, I could also run a router along the edge so it looks a little more flattering with the trim on top... I'm new to this, so any pointers would be super appreciated!

Here's what the staircase currently looks like: https://imgur.com/a/r1mjGen

Here's what I envision the replacement stair skirt and trim to look like: https://imgur.com/a/QcNeiFn


----------



## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Usually when I remodel I rip everything out and go back new. Even though I have the means of making custom molding doing so is more expensive than starting over. 

As far as getting 1/2" wood you might call around to cabinet shops and ask them if they would surface new wood for you. You could buy 3/4" wood from a box store and they could surface it to 1/2" for you. It shouldn't cost very much to do so, no more than you have it shouldn't take more than ten minutes.


----------



## noiseordinance (May 2, 2018)

Thank you for the reply! For my intended plan, would you recommend 1/2”? The reason I ask is because someone on a different forum said I should go with 3/4” and that it would look better, and to never attempt to make trim flush because I will fail. Do you agree with that? Thank you!!


----------



## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

noiseordinance said:


> Thank you for the reply! For my intended plan, would you recommend 1/2”? The reason I ask is because someone on a different forum said I should go with 3/4” and that it would look better, and to never attempt to make trim flush because I will fail. Do you agree with that? Thank you!!


From what I can see you have a gap between the end of the tread and the wall the existing 3/4" material barely covers. If you when with 1/2" material you would also have to use some shoe molding to cover the gap. 

Personally I would rather use a single piece of wood rather than putting one piece of trim over the other. Wood has a tendency of moving and a gap between the two could develop. If you are up to it you might use a piece of 1x12 pine and cut it to fit the stairs and then purchase a router bit to run a profile on the top of it. If you have saved the old stair skirt you could use it as a pattern to cut the new wood.


----------



## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

I agree, 3/4 inch skirt board is the norm. I personally don't use base that tall on a skirt, it just doesn't look right. Cut the top profile off the base leaving about 1/2 inch of the flat below the profile and use it to cap the skirt, the 1/4 reveal of the skirt will look good.


----------



## nywoodwizard (Oct 31, 2006)

Something like this?



noiseordinance said:


> Hey guys. I have a 1950s split level home I bought several months back. I remodeled the upstairs and used luxury laminate flooring since the prior wood flooring was badly damaged (someday I will have it professionally refinished, but that's besides the point). I removed a chunk of the old stair skirt to install the flooring and am looking to install a new stair skirt that will be compatible with my trim.
> 
> The trim I'm using throughout the whole upstairs and (eventually downstairs) is 1/2" thick. It looks like this: https://i.imgur.com/Pq0YQIc.jpg
> 
> ...


----------

