How to edge flooring at top off steps?
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Previous people put in new hardwood flooring and at top of step inside basement door, there is not enough room to step onto top step. It needs some sort of transition but needs cut back first. How do we do this and with what?
Not enough room to step comfortably and I have to step over it to go down or up.
What kind of cut or transition to use on this?
10 answers
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I have this same issue with added tile flooring in my entryway. The one thing that was suggested to me is to have that top piece of wood (tread) raised up by removing it adding some spacers below it and reattaching it. Yours looks a little higher than mine so then you'd probably have to add a finished piece of wood underneath at the top of the riser. Also, since your flooring is flexible that might cause an issue. I am interested to see any other ideas others post here too.
![V Valencia]()
V Valencia
on Jul 18, 2014
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When installing flooring ourselves, we ran into some gaps around door frames resulting from lack of experience. My guy became an expert in time, but this was at a closet door and not worth the bother to redo! I took some sawdust from the project, mixed it with wood glue and filled in the area, wiping off the glue on top. Were I you, I would get a razor knife and take out that underlay showing. Even cut out some of it slightly underneath the edge of the flooring...just a little, maybe 1/8" - 1/4". Mix sawdust (make your own if you have to using some light and darker woods...scraps will do) and wood glue and use as a filler, pushing a little underneath the existing floor. Get it level instead of convex like mortar. Make sure you wipe off excess from both sides with a damp rag. Sit something heavy all along the flooring to make it adheres to the floor. We took out some of the existing flooring and put in a flat threshold using tiles attached with Epoxy.
![Jeanette S]()
Jeanette S
on Jul 19, 2014
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YOU CAN FILL IT WITH WOODFILLER AND SAND IT OFF THIS WILL WORK AND YOU CAN STAIN IT WITH THE SAME COLOR AS THE WOOD HOPE IT WORKS
![Janie Lou]()
Janie Lou
on Jul 19, 2014
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There is something called a STAIRNOSE or BULLNOSE tread that is intended to finish off the edge of flooring at the top of a stair. It's not cheap, but will keep you from killing yourself so is worth it.
![Grace Gleason]()
Grace Gleason
on Jul 19, 2014
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Thanks for the answers, but I'm still hoping for more ideas.
![Shirley Kalinosky]()
Shirley Kalinosky
on Jul 19, 2014
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I like all the answers, but what I'd like to do is cut off the flooring back to the edge of where the door closes and put in a transitional piece of metal so I can at least have enough room to put my foot on there and not have to step to the second one down. Any ideas on how to cut this? What kind of tool to use?
![Shirley Kalinosky]()
Shirley Kalinosky
on Jul 19, 2014
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I would remove the top of the step, put on a taller riser and blocks, then replace the top of the step flush with the floor.
![Darla]()
Darla
on Jul 19, 2014
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If you want to cut back the flooring, you can set your circular saw to the depth of the flooring and do it that way.
![Darla]()
Darla
on Jul 19, 2014
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You can check with Lumber Liquidators They have stair tread you can just nail over the existing tread. Looking at Amazon they only run 8-10 bucks. But like someone said you would need to take a saw to even out that edge.
![Therese Ryan-Haas]()
Therese Ryan-Haas
on Jul 19, 2014
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I talked with our local hardware man today at True Value. He showed me a tool that would work to cut the board off. Too expensive. But, I do have a Dremel and could use the cutting wheel and cut through the wood if only to start it to use the saber saw. Not sure what to do yet. Thanks for your help. I'll let you know what I do.
![Shirley Kalinosky]()
Shirley Kalinosky
on Jul 24, 2014
V Valencia
on Jul 18, 2014
Jeanette S
on Jul 19, 2014
Janie Lou
on Jul 19, 2014
Grace Gleason
on Jul 19, 2014
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