My stairs are flush with the drywall right now. Will this cause me issues down the road?
Best Answer
You don't have to install skirt boards. Just like you don't have to install any molding in your house.
However there is a difference here compared to your normal baseboards.
you are usually moving with more force on stairs.
you are closer to the walls when on stairs. You don't usually walk next to walls in your house much except for hallways.
if you damaged the bottom area of a wall by kicking it, well that is a pretty easy fix. The drywall next to the stairs will not be as easy to patch and you may notice it a lot more.
you are often carrying things up and down the steps. These nick this area and also cause your feet to hit the walls.
and then if you have baseboards already they look much better than when they meet a stair skirt.
Note that this is highly dependent on what function the stairs play and the overall finishes in the house. If you are doing a high end house it is ludicrous to skip stair skirts. On the other end if you have stairs going to an unfinished basement, generally not needed.
Double beam the ledger,
Notch out a rail seat .65 inches,
Set stringers in place,
Pre drill 3/4" pocket hole horizontally from stringer into ledger (will need 12" to 14" auger bit),
Use 1/2" structural screws to secure stringer to ledger,
Plug hole with hole plugs or mix sawdust with sandable titebond glue and patch hole.
Additionally, stringer 14ga prebent metal underneath each stringer, stubby nailed to ledger will help support weight if it's high off the ground.
Skirt boards are one of the hardest things in my opinion to do. I can rip apart a bathroom and have it put back together in 2-3 days and it might take me the same amount of time to make a couple of long stair skirts. All of your stairs wont be the exact same measurements, walls are not perfectly flat... One of the things that I source out now for sure.
The short answer is it depends. If the staircase will be carpeted or if there is no overhang on the treads then the answer is tread first. Basically this is faster because your treads don't have to be perfect. Also your skirt doesn't have to be perfect.
If your stairs will be showing the treads or if there is an overhang I would suggest installing the skirt and then the treads. This will give you a cleaner look. Also good luck notching out the skirt to match all of the overhangs on the tread if you decided to do it last.
Best Answer
You don't have to install skirt boards. Just like you don't have to install any molding in your house.
However there is a difference here compared to your normal baseboards.
you are usually moving with more force on stairs.
you are closer to the walls when on stairs. You don't usually walk next to walls in your house much except for hallways.
if you damaged the bottom area of a wall by kicking it, well that is a pretty easy fix. The drywall next to the stairs will not be as easy to patch and you may notice it a lot more.
you are often carrying things up and down the steps. These nick this area and also cause your feet to hit the walls.
and then if you have baseboards already they look much better than when they meet a stair skirt.
Note that this is highly dependent on what function the stairs play and the overall finishes in the house. If you are doing a high end house it is ludicrous to skip stair skirts. On the other end if you have stairs going to an unfinished basement, generally not needed.