I would not be looking for a way to cover that, I would be looking for a way to get that repaired. Your stairs are settling, and could possibly be getting unsafe. I would find someone that does stairways, and have that all evaluated, and possibily repaired.

Thank you, I was wondering if that was the case, but the carpenter who did some work on my house said the stairs were structurally fine. He did mention that it was from the house settling but he did not express any concern. What type of professional would be best to evaluate this issue? Now I'm really worried.

Can you push the baseboard against the wall? If so, screw it to the wall framing.

No, it doesn’t move at all

Is your floor level in that area? Put a level on it and check. Something is definitely settling, there and in the pictures, your steps, do not look to be level either. It is possible, you need some new support under your house, if you have a crawl space or a basement. It is pretty obvious, that it was attached at one time, since can even see where the paint has broken away, so therefore, there is a reason, it isnt attached now, and cant be pushed into place.

I agree you will need to find out what is going on in the basement We had a house built in 1905 and the center was shiftinf we needed to add a support and have the house jacked up I think in our case they added on at on time but did not do proper support . Once we did that the house was solid as a rock.

Wow, thank you everyone for your feedbackl. I didn’t even think it could be anything that serious. A little scary but I’m glad I asked because I would’ve never thought about it had I not ripped off the carpet and seen this huge gap. I don’t even think I have a basement. If I do I don’t have access to it. It’s a condo, so we don’t have access to the roof or crawl space areas and such.. wow, I wonder if I have to pay for the structural issue or if the condo does. This is crazy. I think the condo company or whoever runs it or owns it is responsible for the building and the residents are responsible for just our individual homes. I really hope this doesn’t fall on me. Anyway thanks all.

Wait so I have another question, so I know during hurricane sandy this place flooded, the first floor of every unit had I believe 2 ft if water on the first floor. So my question is can flooding/water damage cause something like this? Because I’m guessing whatever is in the basement area at that time even if it was repaired they might’ve or probably did a really cheap job. I really wonder if that had anything to do with it. Also when I first moved in there was a big crack in the cement on the patio. Looking back on it it was sort of in line with the staircase. It looked unsightly so I had new cement put in. I wonder if it’s all related….

Above I have enclosed photos of a level on floor in different areas and in different directions as someone suggested. The only place it is not level is when i placed level next to bottom step and facing front door only when next to bottom step (As seen in the last photo). the house seems to be pitched forward, because outside the patios are like that too. I thought the patios were like that in order to drain water away from house but never realized it was like that inside as well. This is bad right? its not for water draining purposes? I greatly appreciate any feedback anyone can offer.

So this was damaged during the hurricane any thing could be the issue water can do all kinds of weird damage and that cracking in the concrete might be just theusual moving of conrete or a much bigger issue , I am curious why you bought this after knowing the flooding issue . I think best to have this inspected and a condo can have all kinds of different ways to handle this stuff and yours seems to be seperate units so not sure about that . Maybe talk to the owners on either side to see if they have the same issues.In a flood wood absorbs water and swells and cracks so many things happen in a flood .

Omg, Thank you so much. thats what the carpenter and the floor guy said too. Also i had an inspection prior to buying the place and there were no concerns for any kind of structural issues at that time in 2019 and my floors/ stairs dont creak or make any sound at all, everything seems pretty solid. Anyway thanks again, im gonna forget about it as suggested.

Looking better