Just realized nobody teaches stair wrapping properly anymore

I noticed something last week while watching a younger crew do a set of basement stairs. They were cutting the riser pieces with no overlap at all, just butting them tight against the treads. That is going to gap out in six months when the house settles and the wood shifts. My old boss back in 2003 in Buffalo had me wrap every riser about an inch up under the tread nose so when things move, the carpet hides it. These guys told me they learned from YouTube videos and their instructor said to save material. I get trying to be efficient, but a callback to fix a popped edge costs way more than a few extra inches of carpet. Has anyone else seen this shortcut getting passed around lately?

2 comments

2 Comments

charles_green10d ago

Is anyone checking how much wasted material comes from callbacks versus the few inches of carpet saved upfront? I did the math once on a job where the homeowner made us wrap the risers the old way, and we used maybe three extra feet total on a whole house. But I've seen guys spend a full day fixing risers that popped out because they were cut too tight. That time alone likely eats any material savings from ten jobs. Plus the customer remembers you had to come back, not that you saved them a few bucks.

nathan_thompson6210d agoProlific Poster

Funny you mention that, because I did a job last year where I just went ahead and wrapped the risers even though the customer didn't ask for it. The old way takes maybe 15 extra minutes per stair, and I figured it's worth my peace of mind. Ended up saving a callback on a set of stairs that had a weird angle, those tight cuts would have definitely popped out within a month. Customer noticed the extra work and actually complimented it, so that's a win-win in my book. Sometimes doing it the old school way just saves headaches down the road.