No matter whether you are inside or out of the house, your stairs do not need to be boring. If you have spent time cultivating a beautiful patio oasis, putting together a stone patio, and decorating it with relaxing decor, but your stair risers have been completely left alone, they can be an unsightly part of the patio that you avoid looking at. But why not make them look as beautiful as the rest of your patio? In this article, we will look at using faux stone for your stair risers.
What Are Stair Risers?
A stair riser is a vertical space on stairs that is between one step and the next, not the part of the stair that you step on. It might be open air, or it might be solid, depending on the types of stairs, but the riser is the same no matter what.
Why Use Faux Stone For Your Stair Risers?
If your patio is made of natural stone, you may want to complement it with stone stair risers, but natural stone is typically expensive, bulky, and not something that you can DIY on a weekend. Faux stone, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. Faux stone is significantly more affordable than natural stone, so you can get enough of it to meet your budget with ease.
You do not want to add a bunch of bulk to the steps with your stair risers, and natural stone tends to be bulky. Adding too much bulk to your stairs means there is less room for feet on them, which has the potential to be a safety hazard. Faux stone is typically no more than two inches in thickness, so it will not take up too much foot space.
Natural stone typically requires the help of a professional mason to install, so there can be extended construction timelines and inconvenience. Stone veneer is a shiplap panel design that can easily be installed with some basic tools and equipment. The ease of installation means that these stair risers can be installed in a few hours — most projects can be completed in one weekend.
If your patio is made of natural stone, you can find a faux stone color pattern that matches it, so your stair risers look like they belong.
You can also use faux stone on other parts of your home’s interior or exterior, so you can tie in the stair risers to make everything match perfectly.
Should I Add Stair Risers To My Patio Stairs?
It can be a little tricky to build stair risers on your patio or deck if you have open-air risers currently, but it is easy to do if you want to give your patio or deck a new look and feel. Adding stair risers to a currently open staircase can also be a good safety feature since it will make it harder to trip. Once you add some stair risers to the steps, you can install faux stone to complete your look.
About the Author
Auz Burger is a DIY project blogger and an expert in faux stone and brick veneer. She has a BA from Washington State University and has been writing and editing professionally for over a decade.