When Chris and I toured the house for the first time, I was surprised to see the serrated stringers on the stairs open. There were so many jagged lines that when I entered the house, it wrapped around the entire front door and my eyes couldn’t keep up! This was the beginning of stair renovation, aka stair building.
build stairs
pedestal table | | vase | | fake stem | | marble plate | | chandelier | | rug
To understand the Structure and Terminology of Stairs It helps you understand what I’m talking about, but the key thing I wanted in the dream stairs was closed stringers.
Well, I got my dream staircase. To do that, the stairs had to be completely reworked. An unbelievable amount of money, so almost embarrassing to share how much it cost us. But for the sake of transparency, and to risk my own dignity…
A total rebuild brought it to a whopping $47,000.
Before
You know what I’m talking about with the jagged open stringer?
rear
I’m not saying I hate stairs. They are actually exactly what I wanted! But would you say it’s worth what we paid? Eek, number. Had we known what we know now, we could have saved a lot of money.
- holding open stringers
- Replaced treads and risers to match new flooring
- Replaced balusters and stanchions
- Dirty the railing.
The more I think about it, this is pretty much what we did in our last home!
I hope you are living and learning.
remove stairs
Before my vacation, I decided to remove the stairs that connect my bunk room to my home gym downstairs. I mentioned in this post that removing the stairs would not only give you extra real estate, but it would also solve some safety concerns. Having our kids sleepover in a room with stairs leading to gym equipment (and an outside entrance) is not ideal at all. (even with door sensors and alarms), I guess I didn’t get a very good night’s sleep! Here’s what it looked like before!
Before
Before this is not even “before”! Before we moved in, we replaced all the flooring, including the stair risers and treads. We also replaced and updated all the balusters and railings, so this was essentially a brand new staircase. Until I recently deleted it.
today
Jules Rag | | humphrey rug | | fur chair
Home renovations come with costs swallowed up like this. It never occurred to me that one day I would get rid of the stairs entirely without actually living with them and hearing the voice of my home.Fortunately, removing stairs comes at a cost road Less than building stairs.
How much does it cost to remove stairs?
For a more detailed breakdown, check out this post.
This number can fluctuate depending on where you live and who you hire, but for this job, the demo, prep/plastics, framing/materials, and dump fees are…
$2954
Patched up the drywall, painted it, added trim, patched and stained the hardwood floors in the bunk room, and even added some electrical work for Jim…
$3360
We let them do it all!
Before
today
I wish I could be in this room before and after felt The difference that removing the stairs makes. It feels like you got more area than you actually did. I like its practicality.
I don’t plan on doing anything more with my future bunk this year, but my home gym patch up is about to begin!
