# Need to make steps wider, please help



## tammykimtony (Apr 20, 2008)

I bought an older home which has very narrow steps on staircase, how can I make them wider?


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## Daryl in Nanoose (Apr 20, 2008)

Do you mean a or b, can you take a picture and post it. There are things we need to know but we will start with this.


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## glennjanie (Apr 20, 2008)

Welcome Tammy:
I'm thinking you don't have enough room to put your foot on the tread (front to back). To make that wider or bigger you will need to make a new staricase altogether. 
Stairs have a riser and a tread, refered to as rise and run. To make the tread larger the stairs have to stick out in the room further. For instance, if you want a 1' wide tread and there are 12 steps, the stairs would have to have 12' of floor space from a plumb line from the terminus at the top to the bottom tread. 
It is a major rework and seldom worth the trouble, expense and sometimes there is just not enough space left for it.
Glenn


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## Daryl in Nanoose (Apr 20, 2008)

I meant to ask you if you have a nose or if there are just flush (see pic below).If there flush you can add 1-1/2" nose to them which does not sound like alot but it does make a difference, I did this for a client a few months back and she was very happy with the little extra I gave here.


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## glennjanie (Apr 21, 2008)

Nice job Daryl. It does give additional space on the tread but, in some cases, it also presents a trip hazard with the 1 1/2" projection.
Glenn


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## Daryl in Nanoose (Apr 21, 2008)

glennjanie said:


> Nice job Daryl. It does give additional space on the tread but, in some cases, it also presents a trip hazard with the 1 1/2" projection.
> Glenn


Very good point glenn, I walked up and down them several times and was not a problem I think mainly because they still were not the depth of a standard tread size. I staerted with 8-1/2" and ended up with 10" but still good point


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