Cove moulding (also spelled as "cove mold") is a small decorative profile used underneath the bullnose of a stair tread against the top of the riser. Cove mould is typically installed in the same species as stair treads. While the cove moulding is completely optional in a stair tread installation, nearly all of our customers find the cove mould creates a wonderful "finished" look and improved the overall look of an installation. The primary purpose of cove mould is to hide any miscuts or gaps between the stair tread and the riser. Cove mould also eases the transition between the stair tread and the riser with its decorative concave shape. If you are installing return stair treads, the cove mould should also be installed under the returned end of each tread. This can easily be accomplished by cutting each piece of cove mould on a 45 degree angle so the two pieces intersect at a clean point.

Our standard cove mould is 3/4" x 1/2". All unfinished cove mould is sold by the linear foot while our prefinished cove mould is sold in 78" pieces.

So how many linear feet of cove moulding do I need?
In order to determine how many feet of cove moulding that you require:

1. Multiply the number of stair treads by the length of the tread in feet – a 36" stair tread is 3 feet, while a 42" is 3.5 feet and so on
2. Add one extra foot of cove mould for every stair tread that has a mitered return
3. Add 10% more cove mould to allow for cutting

That’s all there is to it! Because of the way that our cove mould is made, we can not guarantee a particular length of unfinished cove. That’s why the last step is to add 10%. In general, you should expect this cove mould to be shipped in lengths averaging 7-8 feet but it may be longer. When we pull and pack your cove mould we try to take the length of your stair treads into account and will not ship any lengths of cove mould that are shorter than you shortest stair tread.

Quite often, if a customer is installing a species stair tread and a white (or different species) riser, we are asked if they should install cove moulding to match the stair tread or the riser. The answer is always use the same color and species cove mould as the stair tread. This will blend much better than trying to match the cove mould to the riser.

As with our other products, your cove mould will be manufactured and finished at the same time as your stair treads for the best possible match between the two.