Quarter Round Tread - Stairs

A quarter round tread usually protrudes from the end of a stair tread in a circular form, creating "half" of "one half" of the circle. If you divided a circle into four equal parts that were shaped identical, you would have one quarter of the circle. The picture below provides you with an excellent example of a quarter round tread that's located at the bottom of a stairway that still under construction.

What's The Difference Between A Quarter Round And Half Round Stair Tread?

If I divided a circle in half, I would have a pattern that I could use for the end of a half round stair tread. Half round treads are also used frequently throughout the stair building industry.

A quarter round stair tread usually dies into a wall like the picture above and can usually be cut out of a longer stair tread. (See picture above)

Rounded Stair Tread Finishing Advice To Framing Carpenter's

One time I was building a particular set of stairs, (for a group of tract homes) that required a rounded stair tread at the bottom of the stairway. Each one took me about 30 minutes to build, only to find out that the finish carpenter was cutting them off and throwing them away.

At first I was frustrated, because someone was destroying my wonderful works of art, but then I was relieved, because I didn't have to build them anymore and I still got paid the same amount of money from the contractor to install the same set of stairs.

The moral to the story is simple, if you're responsible for installing the rough framed stairs, but won't be involved in the finishing process. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get some more information about the construction of the final stairway, before building something like a quarter round tread, only to find out that it wasn't necessary.

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