I just had all new flooring installed in my house and love the new look. The stairs look great with wall-colored faces! However, I'm not happy with the way the installers have handled the bottom stair so far:



http://www.hardwoodflooringtalk.com/phpbb2/album_pic.php?pic_id=48

The way the face meets the crown molding doesn't work. The bottom of the face meets the crown molding flushly. But then there's a harsh transition where the top of the edge of the face meets the molding. Moreover, the flow is very chopped up and there is no consistency between that stair and the rest of the house (where the wood floors meet the walls at a 4" mold).

The only idea I have is to wrap the whole face with the crown molding (meaning popping it out a 1/4-1/2" at the face and then going around it. That will create consistency, but pehraps less flow and more chop beacuse of the "bump out." Not sure I love that plan.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

I see the picture but can't see your problem. Your terminology isn't correct either, so I don't fully understand your problem.

By "crown molding" do you mean the "base" (attached to the wall where it meets the floor)? Actual crown molding is on the ceiling.

The staircase is composed of "treads", the part you walk on, and "risers", the vertical part. Which one is the "face" that you're referring to?

Maybe some close-up photos would help communicate your problem better.

My apologies for the terminological issues; I'm new to this. Trying again with proper terms:

The entire house has new hardwood floors that meet the walls with a 4" base. Except in one spot: Where the white riser on the bottom stair meets the floor below it. That creates in inconsistency that I don't like. Now maybe that's a standard way to do the edge between the floor and first riser. I don't know. I just know that this seems a touch "off." The "offness" is compounded by the fact that where that riser wraps around the left side of the stair, it meets the 4" base abruptly. The riser is taller than the base, leaving a hard edge above the base and meeting the base squarely (whereas the base has decorative "beading," if that's the right term).

I really do owe a close-up shot -- you're right. I'll send one tonight when I have a chance to swing by again (we're not living there right now). Thanks.

Need a close up, but normally no baseboard is used on the starting riser. At the end where it meets the baseboard there is probably way to use a base cap mold on the edge to transition better to the colonial style baseboards.

A 1/4 round or shoe molding can be added to a square cut end to give it a more pleasant look.

It sounds to me that the guys who installed the base board did not use a return where the base board meet the riser.

If there were a square cut edge of the base board meeting the riser I would under stand your dissatisfaction.

I would not look to add anything else to the riser.

I now have to reconsider my assessment. I would appear that the riser is protruding out and the baseboard finishes cut flush to it.

If this is correct the installation is finished in the most appealing fashion I can imagine. IMHO

First, thank you all for your input. It seems, as many of you suggested, that its very common to leave the first stair riser/box without any molding or trim. My flooring guy said the same. But, in this particular installation, my GC and I agreed that it would make sense.

Here's what it looked like before.

[fullalbumimg]48[/fullalbumimg]

And here's what it looks like now, with the molding now.

[fullalbumimg]49[/fullalbumimg]

Much better, I think. Especially once we texturize the mdf and paint the risers the same color as the walls. Perhaps not customary -- but it works for us. Thanks again for the input and advice.

As long as that passes code. It would also nice to run a base cap moulding under the knee-wall trim board to kill it back to the wall..... same effect as the base board below it.

It would be a mistake to texturize the risers IMO. They will be much harder to clean and might not take the abuse of scuffing as easily.