Just realized I spent 4 hours on a single stair tread yesterday...

Had a job in an old house with these weird, uneven concrete steps. The first tread had a big dip in the middle, maybe half an inch deep. I thought I could just pad it out with extra cushion... but the carpet kept wrinkling every time I tried to stretch it. Ended up having to cut a custom plywood shim to fit the exact shape, glue it down, and wait for it to set before I could even start the real install. What's your go-to fix for a sloped step that's not wood?

2 comments

2 Comments

shah.olivia20d ago

Saw a video once where a guy used self-leveling concrete patch for a dip like that. He poured it right into the low spot, let it cure, and it made a perfect flat base. Seems like it would be faster than cutting a custom shim, but you gotta be careful not to make a mess. For a half-inch dip that might have been the easier play, but your plywood fix is solid too. Old houses always have some weird surprise waiting for you.

james_martin9320d ago

Yeah, but then you're just trading one kind of mess for another. Now you've got a bag of concrete powder in your garage forever, and you know you'll spill some. At least with the plywood, the biggest disaster is a pile of sawdust.