# Trimming a staircase



## klwsur (Nov 1, 2015)

I have been asked to finish a staircase. I have attached a picture of the bottom of the staircase. The treads you see are temporary and the baseboard trim is just placed,,,not nailed as of yet. I'm going to miter the inside wall to the trim at the bottom to make it continuous. My question is how is the best way to terminate the skirt boards on the inside (stairwell side) and outside of the outside wall. I'll have a skirt board coming down the inside of the wall along the right side of the finished steps. Without anything to butt this into, how do I terminate that board? Also, on the outside skirt board what do I do there? I've thought about putting a different style of edge on that board as shown in the CAD drawing I've attached. This isn't exactly to scale but you get the idea. I'm going to have a volute on the bottom step,,,I haven't shown it because it was too tough to draw. One more hitch too,,,they want painted risers and balusters so that is the reason I put the ornamental decoration on the side of the outside skirt. They would be white also against the stained trim to ease into the difference of stain and paint. I hope someone can help me out here because I'm not that creative when it comes to trim carpentry. Thanks in advance!


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## BZawat (Sep 21, 2012)

Use a 2 piece solution for your skirt, a board with a base cap moulding on top. End the skirt board with a plumb cut, and miter the base cap to return down to the start tread.


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## BZawat (Sep 21, 2012)

That should say stair tread, not start tread. Sorry


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## klwsur (Nov 1, 2015)

Thanks! That is a great idea for the skirt side towards the stairwell. Is there a better way to finish the outside skirt that I have shown on the CAD drawing?


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

BZawat said:


> Use a 2 piece solution for your skirt, a board with a base cap moulding on top. End the skirt board with a plumb cut, and miter the base cap to return down to the stair tread.


I agree, I usually stopped the skirt a little from the end so the base cap would show a slight revel of the sheet rock edge.

What you have drawn looks good, that is the way I always did it. I did have a post against the first riser where the post was half on the tread and half off touching the floor. Then a half post against the wall where the rail terminated into, I just didn't like the looks of a rosette.


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## Chamfer (Sep 6, 2014)

BZawat hit the nail on the head as far as the inside skirt.

As for the outside here's a pic that's similar to what you're dealing with. The overlaid piece on top of the skirt that meets the risers could easily be painted, although I would recommend finishing it before install if the skirts/treads/etc. are getting stained.


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## MNsawyergp (Jan 31, 2012)

I cut a triangle of the skirt board material to fit into that bottom corner so the base board bumps into it at 90*. Make that end of the triangle tall enough so there is room for the baseboard plus room for your skirt trim to die into the end of the triangle above the baseboard. At the outside wall, end the baseboard with a vertical cut tall enough for the baseboard to die into the end. Put a return on the skirt trim at that point.


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## toolman22 (Nov 9, 2015)

I'm assuming that you are using MDF for the risers and skirt board so why not mitre both the riser and the skirt board to fit and give it a nice clean look and use a piece of cove mold under your treads that returns into the skirt board


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## klwsur (Nov 1, 2015)

Thanks for all of your help!


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