# Stair skirt meets floor nosing trim



## codycuellar (May 7, 2021)

Hello all! First time post, but getting much more into woodworking so likely won't be my last!

Anyway, I'm finishing a major remodel on my house and I'm struggling with some trimming around the stairs. I have 5/8" thick 5.5" tall white baseboards at the bottom of my stairs. I intended for them to flush join a continuous run into the stair skirts (also white) - but forgot to plane down the skirts before I installed so they are now 3/4". The top of the skirt meets the nosing on the left wall of the stairwell which will be trimmed with 3/4" x 3.5" stained maple. I cut the skirt so it the trim runs the full length of the nosing and overcuts the skirt, but since they are the same thickness it looks a little strange. Also - the right side skirt is a knee-wall which runs all the way to the height of the floor so they are mis-matched visually. I'm toying with the idea of doing a square trim top to the skirts which looks nice at the bottom but strange protruding out at the top. Either way - at the top - if the skirts goes through the trim it should be thicker, and if the trim cuts through the skirt, then the trim should be thicker in my opinion.

Stairs will be carpeted - eventually refinished with wood tread/white risers. 

Some thoughts:
1. Pull the skirt and plane it and re-install as-is.
2. Pull the skirt and install a new one which continues the run until it hits the floor nosing and then angle cut the nosing trim piece to meet it at a 52 degree angle, and plane the trim so the skirt sits proud of it.
3. Since it's paint grade - cut a piece to fit on top of the existing skirt to continue the up to the nosing, same as #2 but less work.
4. Do what I'm trying out in the pictures below.

Any ideas?

Bottom skirt meets baseboard (with top cap idea):









Top Skirt meets nosing trim (flush) overcut on skirt with top square cap. I tried to chamfer the square cap which helps but still looks like a mistake, the trim should really have been thicker, but I can't really make it thicker without it protruding into the rounded portion of the floor nosing.









Right skirt meets knee-wall cap:


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## FirebirdHank (Jan 25, 2021)

In the second pic I think I would have run the stair trim all the way up to the floor noseing. By doing that you avoid the horizontal joint and the edge band will die off under the nose. I know it is a little late to make changes like that but it is how I think it should be done.


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## codycuellar (May 7, 2021)

That was my original idea before I was going to use the edge band but then I thought having a thinner skirt cut off the thicker nose trim would look weird so I went with the horizontal joint but forgot to actually plane the skirt down. With the skirt now being the same thickness and by adding the edge band I agree with you and both side will look more symmetrical. Since it’s paint grade, I can still do that by gluing an extension to the top of the skirt to continue the run. I’m also considering maybe changing the nosing trim to be just white so it blends all together more and draws more attention to the floor than the piece of trim. The only thing with doing the nose trim white is at the part where it returns to the wall there will be a tiny 5.5” baseboard return above the floor and the 3.5” trim below it but I think it should look fine.


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