Trying to Make Second Floor Engineered Flooring Match Top of Stairs Nosing

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08-14-21, 11:44 AM

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Trying to Make Second Floor Engineered Flooring Match Top of Stairs Nosing

I have engineered floor boards to replace my entire second floor rugs. I have done two rooms. Now I am starting on the hallway at the top of the stairs. I have removed the handrails and spindles to refinish them to match the floor board finish. The engineered floor boards are 11/16" thick which matches the bathroom ceramic tile thickness. The nosing at the top of the stairs is only 1/2" leaving a 3/16" difference. See Photo showing the nosing at the front, a piece of engineered flooring next to it, the subfloor plywood behind that and the rug/under pad cut about a foot behind that.

Initially I was planning to remove, refinish and put back the nosing raised by 3/16", to match the new flooring, but ran into a problem. The nosing piece runs about 22 feet in length, is curved, solid oak, about 1" thick and I expect fairly pricey to replace. It is glued to the framing lumber and subfloor and also attached with numerous finishing nails. Glue was allowed to run onto the subfloor on the rug side of the nosing piece which is going to make it difficult to properly fit the engineered floor boards to it, but I can deal with that by cutting the underside corners of the floor boards.

My problem is - how do I do this so that the nosing board is level with the floor boards? iI there some way of dissolving the glue without destroying the nosing piece? If it were just the finishing nails holding it in place, I think I could pry it up, but the glue complicates things.

Alternatively, would I be able to have a nosing cap custom made that would be 3/16" thick, curved to match the nosing now in place, 3.5" wide, and a facing edge to fully cover the current nosing piece?

Or, is there some solution I haven't even thought of yet?

Natural finish is current nosing, brown board is engineered floor board, plywood is the light colored material, blue is under pad and grey is rug.

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08-14-21, 11:59 AM

Marq1

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You will most likley ruin the original wood trying to remove.

As I see it you have three options, taper the wood flooring down and re-stain, find a transition "T" molding to equalize the heights and cover the joint, and finally, a tapered piece 2-3" wide that transitions to the different heights.

The 3rd option is probably the least obvious solution!

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08-14-21, 03:28 PM

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Thanks, Marq1, I agree that trying to pull the board will destroy it because of the glue. I have thought of under cutting the engineered board with a plane, but a 3/16" thickness is a lot to plane over a 22 foot length and a 3-4 inch width.

Right now, I am investigating the possibility of gluing some veneer over top of the entire board, but veneer is usually thinner, 1/16" or 1/8". :-( Also I could do just the portion at the steps, then feather down at the end and let the rest of the engineered boards be a little higher than the rest of the nosing board (which will not look as nice).

Any other suggestions that will look good are appreciated.

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08-14-21, 03:53 PM

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Haven't read your post in detail but I would probably make a bevelled transition out of matching wood, same height as the stair nosing on one side, same height as the new floor on the other, and add it to the perimeter of the nosing. And stain an varnish it to match one color or the other. It might require a mitered return on the ends of the nosing. Can't tell as the picture is too close to get an overall plan.

On your 1" thick trim, I would probably undercut it with a router just enough to accept the flooring, if possible.

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08-15-21, 06:16 AM

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Thanks for all the ideas. I have to work with what is available. So I have decided to pick up some 1/4" oak veneered plywood, make cardboard templates to match the nosing trim board, use the templates to cut the plywood into pieces to fit over the solid oak, round the exposed edge, sand for glue to stick then glue the pieces down, strip the old finish on exposed section of the trim, sand, then apply stain and clear finish to match the flooring. I can make up the extra 1/16" by raising the floor board adjacent to the newly modified trim using roofing paper.

It may not be the optimum solution, but the best I can come up with given your suggestions, and given what I have to work with.

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08-15-21, 06:22 AM

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Quote:

So I have decided to pick up some 1/4" oak veneered plywood

Id give that some serious thought, once you go that route there is no turning back.

IMO, all your doing is moving the mis-match to another spot, not really resolving and your going to see that exposed edge no matter what you do!

Lay it out and see what your getting!

Remember the whole idea behind DIY is saving a considerable amount of $ which should have some going towards the proper tools to do the job right.

If you havent rewarded yourself with a nice tool for every job your taking away the fun of doing projects!

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08-15-21, 04:39 PM

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I was in a Home Depot today and saw 1/4" thick solid red oak boards supposedly 4 inches wide, but actually exactly the width I need after planing - 3-1/2". So all I need to do is round the facing upper corner, then prepare the 1" board underneath, glue, sand and finish. The curve will require a bit of cutting and shaping, and the holes for the dowels of the spindles will need to be made precisely with templates, but this is a better and easier solution than plywood, just a bit pricier. I can do the horizontal glue joint so it will hardly show, using glue and sawdust.

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