Stair Recap and Railing at The Rida Residence

Stair Recap and Railing at The Rida Residence

This is one of the more labour intensive jobs that came our way this summer. New flooring was being installed on the second floor so we stripped the existing curved flooring nosing, inserted a new piece across the top of the stair, then stained and finished them to match the new flooring with a custom stain mix we did. We removed the old railing and replace the dated colonial newel posts and balusters with new square newel posts and metal balusters. We used a 7.5″ recessed panel box newel at the bottom of the main stair to replace the curved volute that was there originally. This is becoming a very popular option.

The before and after pictures below are a great example of the incredible impact recapping your stairs can have. Whether you are planning on selling your home and want to improve buyer impressions or are staying in your home and want an update you can enjoy day in and day out, this is a great way to get results.

The “before” picture, seen above on the right, is a very common sight these days. While in this case the carpeting was installed because it was popular at the time, in new homes we’re seeing more and more buyers reject the $25,000-$40,000 pricetag builders are charging for hardwood stair upgrades. A smart decision given that we can recap a carpeted stair like this one for $5,000-$8,000 depending on the size, shape, and options.

Our suppliers are really taking modern trends to heart and providing the right pricing on the right items. The metal balusters we used on this job are the Valencia line from Stair World. By doing a pattern where plain balusters make up more than half of the balusters used, this option works out to cost less than the wood balusters that were there originally. They are easy and quick to install and require no staining and finishing, so labour costs are reduced.

This job took about 5 days and we had to return to do some touch-ups to the finish a few days after completion, but scheduling with the flooring installers went smoothly, and there were no delays. The homeowners are thrilled with the result and we are very proud of the work as well.