The first step up a staircase that is typically a little larger than the rest is called a starter or starting step, because they “start” the run up the steps.. da!

They are made in a number of shapes and sizes depending on whether it needs to anchor a newel post or just wrap around a wall.  The most common wood starter step is a half-round step that we discussed earlier who’s main claim in life is its importance in anchoring a newel post and spindles to support the end of a railing.

Quarter-round starter stair treads are a little less showy and more often at the bottom of a set of basement stairs where it needs to extent around the end of a wall. Lacasse Fine Wood Products makes these stair tread on a special order basis to the geometry you need. In the step below, each corner is cut in the shape of a quarter of a circle… thus it gets its name as a “quarter-round” starting step.

As you can see by the picture of this birch stair tread below, both ends are rounded to allow the tread to wrap around the wall on each side. This would be considered a double quarter round starter step. Any time you need a finished end on BOTH ends you need to be particularly careful about getting the correct length as the wood cannot be trimmed on site without damaging the finished ends.

Here’s a general layout:

B = the overall length of the tread from one side to the other

C = the standardized depth of the tread. This is usually 10 1/4″ or 11 1/4″ , although often in this case the tread can be a little deeper than the rest… we will make whatever you need to fit the box underneath.

Radius: custom sized to fit the stair box below … be careful to draw this out on a paper first and test it on your step to make sure your shape does NOT exposed the corner of the box below.

 

We’d love to hear from you and help work through your hardwood stair renovation project so please fax over or email your list of requirements and the type of wood you would like to use and we’ll get right back to you with pricing. We’re small and do care that you get what you need!