Question - How to cut a skirt board

[Scott Thornton]

I'm hoping someone here can give me some good tips or recommendations for cutting skirt boards to go in between my stair treads and the wall.

I have a set of 8 stairs going down to a landing which turns and another 8 stairs going down to the bottom floor (my basement). I need to install a 1x12 skirt board between the stairs and the wall and then I'm going to add trim and wainscoting. This doesn't seem like a perplexing install, but I'd like to get it right the first time as I have just enough wood ready to do the job.

It seems to me like the easiest thing to do would be to lay the skirt board on the stairs and start with making vertical lines at the top and bottom. On the bottom there needs to be an angled section that sits on the floor as well. I apologize to those who are experts or people who do this kind of thing on a regular basis for my ignorance, but please help and forgive me for any improper terminology.

Thanks.

Scott

[Glen Butler]

With out going into to much detail yet. Make your plumb cut and seat cut first. The line of the plumb cut and the line of the seat cut should form a 90 degree angle. The length of the short side of your skirt will determine how tall it is above the noses of the stairs. Once you are satisfied with the height, leave the skirt in place and mark the plumb cut where it protrudes the top and make a level line from it. Make a plumb line at the bottom at the distance you want the skirt to sit in front of the riser.

[Scott Thornton]

So if I understand this correctly.

I need to cut the plumb line at the top of the skirt board and then the bottom cut that sits on the floor at the bottom of the skirt first? How do I know what angle or how much of the bottom to cut?

[Richard Wolf]

If your stringer or skirt board is on your treads, you don't need to know the angle. The top cut is plumb, the floor cut is level. If you need to know the angle, if you post your rise and run, I will tell you, but if it is a "normal" staircase, it is between 39 and 41 degrees.

Richard