The First STEP to Your Smart Home!

Flipping stairs is easy – but I took it to the next step by adding Arduino controlled LED lights to make them SMART STAIRS! Let’s get these stairs LIT!

1. Stair Carpet Removal
2. Stair Treads and Risers
3. Stair Skirting
4. Smart Stair Wiring
5. Smart Stair LED’s
6. The Arduino

1. Stair Carpet Removal

Over the last 6 years I’ve taken carpet out of my house and replaced it with hardwood but the last place I have are the stairs. I’ve had a ton of ideas of what I’ve wanted to do and landed on these really cool motion activated LED stairs. But first – I had to remove the carpet. 

Removing carpet is super easy but it can be really tedious. First you have to take the carpet up, pull up the tack strips and then remove all the staples holding the foam and padding down. Garbage tip: If you roll up the strips in 2 foot rolls, most trash companies will take it if you put it out on trash day. 

2. Stair Treads and Risers

At this point, I was down to the builder grade stairs that were underneath the carpet. From here I needed to decide what I wanted for the stair treads. I could either have spend a little more time and mill down lumber and make my own stair treads and risers. OR I could spend a little more money and order pre-made treads and risers, cut them to size and glue them to the builder grade stairs – and that’s the option I went with.

Before I could start working on attaching the treads and risers, I needed to figure out the lighting situation. Not only did I want to add an LED strip under each tread overhang, but I needed to figure out how to add the motion sensors to the stair rail. I wanted to fit the cables for each lighting strip behind the skirt going up the stairs. 

3. Stair Skirting

What I didn’t know is that the skirt went completely behind each stair step on the wall. To remove it, I had to use the oscillating tool following the line of the stairs. I also had to cut out space for the new stair treads I installed, too.

Using a digital angle finder I could measure the space between the wall and the stairs. This allowed me to make sure I cut the stair treads on the miter saw, they would be cut to the correct degree. 

To prep for the skirt cutting, I took a small piece of the stair tread to mark on the skirt where it would hit so I would know where the areas were I would need to cut away. For installation, I decided that I’ll cut out space for the stair riser to install that first and then the tread on top leaving the space for the LED panel. Speaking of the risers, I had to cut out a notch on the top left of each riser for the LED wires to snake through to be hidden along the wall. 

4. Smart Stair Wiring

Before putting the skirt back on, I had to get the wiring installed. Instead of creating my own wires, I bought a pack of wires that already had connectors on the end – since I was working with several steps, this was an easier option to keep them organized. For the motion sensors, I bought 3 PIR sensors to attach to the stair rail, a bunch of LED strips, and a big power supply. Choosing the right power supply was really important since I chose RGBW LED’s – because that it using a LOT of power. I have a 40 amp power supply to run the lights. 

I ran the wire down each step to have them ready for the LED strip installation. I found a place right below the steps, hidden behind our couch were I could drop the wires down to the power source. After installing each stair tread, as I would for a normal stair upgrade, I was able to add the LED strips. 

5. Smart Stair LED’s

When it comes to stair treads – take your time. Make sure to measure out each piece so that it will fill according to each individual step. I used 3-4 coats of a Polyurethane specifically for floors for each stair tread.

I cut down strips of the LED, attached it to a piece of wood, and wedged it in at each step with tiny tile shims. I used the shims so that if I needed to remove the LED strip to do any repairs, it would be a quick de-install. I added a piece of sanded plexiglass to the front of each LED strip in order to diffuse the light. 

The PIR sensors were ready to be installed at this point, so I 3D printed a mount for them to hide right under the stair rail. All of the wires were hidden down the wall and they’re going to one central location. I used a project box to house everything to mount at the wall – wires, power supply, and Arduino.

6. The Arduino

Speaking of Arduino – this entire project is being powered by an Arduino Uno. There’s 10 lights on the steps and 3 PIR sensors. Each sensor is in charge of 4 steps plus one overlapping – so with one sensor triggered, 4 steps will light and with 2 sensors triggered, 8 steps will light. After plugging in each wire to the Arduino – I realized I had to rewrite the code….a few times. 

Once the coding was complete, I added a walnut cover to the project box, adding a button for mode control – I was able to finally see the completed installation. These smart stairs ending up being perfect for my family.

The coding for this project will be added later on to the end of our Arduino course. Check that out to learn how to do this yourself, too!