Basement Stairs

One of the last parts of finishing our basement was the stairway from the first floor to the basement. The existing stairs were made of unfinished 2x12s. I used Retro Treads and Risers from stair-treads.com.

I first removed all of the existing 2×12 treads to trim off the noses. I reinstalled those treads with deck screws and construction adhesive. Then I installed skirt boards made from primed 1×12 trim boards from Home Depot. Next, I installed the prefinished risers followed by the prefinished retro treads. The risers and retro treads were installed with construction adhesive and 16 gauge finish nails.

I chose prefinished retro treads made of red oak. The finish color is smoke which was chosen to complement the dark gray stain on the concrete floor of the basement. I installed a red oak handrail on the stairs and stained it with a smoke gray stain from Minwax.

The stairway looks great but I still need to fill all of the nail holes and paint the trim.