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To answer Floorguy, I still don't see the statement in this original post about where that gap is located.

That is why I am an installer before an inspector, Ray

Call it ESP, or call it experience. I knew exactly what he was talking about.




Ya, Garry I know what you mean about the stringer skirting!!!

It made me be a template guy, on the first job I ever did with stairs.

Jerry,

You know that can't be done everytime. There are skirts that have the sheetrock cut to them, sitting on the tops. No way to get to those stringers.
Some have ornate trims installed, or are part of a wainscot. What then? I'm thinking that I'll be tossing out my Stairmaster jig and using DM's tip of making templates with wood strips and hot glue. With the thin strips, you can carve them to fit those warped and crooked stringers. But the cutting of 5/4" stock is still a pain. On a recent job, the stairbuilder used a 4" grinder/sander to get the last few mm's of the cut line. I think it took him over an hour per tread to fit them. If it takes that long, I'm going to need to charge way more than I have been getting. Or just not do them anymore.

Is that what we are talking about here? From his post I gleaned that the installer did the whole shebang for him... including new oak skirtboards. I try not to assume too much in forums but that's the way i have been interpreting this thread.

If the oak skirtboards were existing... then thats a different animal altogether and my comment may have been too harsh.

They may have been Jerry, I'm not sure. The point I was trying to make is that most of the time I do stairs, the skirt boards are already there. And often, they are painted. I have done stairs where I installed new skirts but not often. And existing skirt boards usually are out of whack. BTW, what do use use to cut your treads? I use my 10" Hitachi compound slider. Is there a better way?

Great thread if I do say so myself! Thanks for all the great responses. first, the skirt boards are newly installed oak. I think the main problem here now that things are finished is that my installer simply "overbooked" himself. I really don't like to see him not show up the second day but rather drop off his rt. hand man and then show up at 6:30 pm. But what are you supposed to say? He showed up at 6:30 pm and the original plan was to put on the first coat of finish that night but they hadn't gotten 4 steps completed on the main entry steps and they still had the smaller sized steps to go. They finished both staircases by about 10:00 pm. It was clear to me that they got behind and I did'nt feel good about it. Nevertheless, all things considered it was "pretty good". Of course it could have been better too.

Thanks for clearing that up Woodstock, you sound like you'd be a decent guy to work for. What Gary said about existing skirtboards is exactly right, they're never square and a real pain to deal with... installers just do the best they can when dealing with somebody else's work.

The Festool saw and a short guide rail works good. But, since I don't have a Festool work table I have to clamp each tread down... so I can't say that is a better way than just using a good slider. If someone's slider is a bear to adjust at a 1/2 to 1 degree angle then the Festool would be alot less aggravating to use because your guide rail just lays down on the cut line.