Under stair storage

[Ang]

Hello All,
My pantry is located under my stair well. The walls have been finished with drywall, but the ceiling is the underside of the stairs. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can seal up the stairs, so that I can texture and paint for a uniform wall/ceiling appearance?
Thanks,
Ang

[Jimmer]

Ang,

Welcome to the forum!

I would start with screwing 1 by 3 strapping to the underside of the stair stringers. Then you can attach 1/2 inch drywall ( or any other material to the strapping.

Measure the width of the area under the stairs. Cut enough pieces of 1 x 3 this length to place one every 16 inches on center down the underside(screw it to the center stringer also if there is one). Cut enough pieces of 1 x 3 to fill in-between directly on the stringers(these pieces will be about 13.5 inches long). This grid of 1 x 3 will give you a good area to attach the drywall to and would look something like this...


Hope this helps, Jim



'Just a handyman trying to help'

[Ang]

Hi Jim,
Thank you very much for your quick reply. Although, I'm not sure I understand. Would the directions you provided result in a flat ceiling? One of the problems I have in my pantry is that it has an almost standard door entry at about 6 feet high, with a depth of about 5 feet. Walking into the pantry, the ceiling gets lower and lower due to the stairs. Should I use your directions to attach the drywall to each individual step?
I appreciate your help,
Ang

[Jimmer]

Ang,

The solution I suggested would give you a flat sloped ceiling. The drawing in the earlier post was looking straight into the closet and the top would be close to you and rest sloped away into the closet.

Are you looking for a ceiling that steps down with the underside of each step? Do you see the undersides of two or three stair stringers running down under the entire run of stairs?

Jim


'Just a handyman trying to help'

[Jimmer]

Ang,

If you are okay with the sloped ceiling but don't want it to slope all the way to the floor, you can put a false back on it by framing a small wall at the depth you want the closet to be.


Jim

'Just a handyman trying to help'

[Troy]

Nice post, Jimmer!

[Ang]

Jim,
Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with this. I apologize for my confusion and not being able to adequately explain my intentions. What I'd like to do is cover each stair individually, so I don't lose additional head room. Also, I think the way my stairs were built is a bit unusual. They curve around, creating odd angles, where the stairs are wider at one end and narrower at the other. I drew a picture, but I don't have a way to post it. Can I email it to you?
Thank you again for your patience.
Ang

[Jimmer]

Ang,

You can email the picture to me or I sent you an email and you can reply to it.

Thanks, Jim

'Just a handyman trying to help'

[Troy]

Ang sent me this picture, sorry it took me so long to post it.

[Jimmer]

Ang,

Okay, seeing what you are working with I now understand.

Code in most areas require that you drywall the ceiling in storage closets for fire regulations. So I would recommend using it.

To maximize head room you can cut drywall to fit under each stair tread and behind each riser. You can use construction adhesive and some short drywall screws to attach.

The joints may crack if there is much deflection in the treads. You can use wooden quarter round trim and outside corner trim (nailed and glued) to cover the joints and keep you from having to use joint compound and then see cracks develop.



I realize that you will have wedge shaped pieces under your treads but if you measure twice you will hopefully only have to cut once

Then you get to paint and have a nice clean finished ceiling.

Good luck, Jim



'Just a handyman trying to help'

[Ang]

Jim,
Thank you so much for your help. I was becoming overwhelmed with this project, but your suggestions make a lot of sense and don't seem too difficult. I feel much better about taking it on now.
Thanks again,
Ang

Thank you Troy for posting my graphic.

[Troy]

Anytime, Ang. You're welcome