Here’s a quick question for anyone who knows about stairs and their approximate costs to finish!
My husband and I need to decide how we will finish our stairs. It will be a straight staircase against one wall but open to the room (with a railing) on one side. (not your typical dramatic foyer staircase, just a standard one at the edge of a room See my attached pictures (The first one’s rough, I know, but I just drew it up quick (and obviously it’s not to scale).
The floor of the room will be hardwood (not pre-finished). The upstairs hallway (where the stairs lead) will be carpet.
We do not want to do plain hardwood stairs because they will be slippery. We’d really like to do hardwood stairs with a carpet runner up the middle. If we did that, how would we deal with the landing? Would the runner turn and also come down the last step our into the room? Or would it just continue straight and end at the wall?
Also, how costly is this compared to just carpeting the whole stairs with a decent grade carpet? I guess we’re just trying to figure out if it would be worth it? If it’s a huge price difference we might just do carpet because we need to watch our budget. But we’d really like to do the hardwood with runner if it’s really not going to be that much difference in cost.
One other thing to note, we intend to install (but not finish) the hardwood floors ourselves. We are nervous about installing hardwood on the stairs though. Is that much more difficult than installing hardwood on a floor? I would imagine it would be so the cost might include having someone else come out just to install the stairs?
If we decided to do carpet on the stairs for now, how hard would it be to do it later (10 years from now)? I only ask because our framer has said he needs to know what we want before he builds the stairs. Is that because he will build them differently based on whether or not we want carpet or hardwood? So if we go with carpet now, could we ever do hardwood later without ripping out something on the stairs?
Any insight would be appreciated!!
Thanks,
-Kacy
Replies
Hi Kacy. I can't answer all your questions but this will give your post a bump for later. That's when all the experts will be home from work.
Generally speaking, fully carpeted stairs will cost the least. But you knew that.
Hardwood stairs are built from hardwood components. Treads, risers, skirkboards etc. Some of these can be a slightly lesser grade if they are painted. Painted risers for example. They are not covered with strip flooring. Except for the landing.
A carpet runner can be installed over these stairs, leaving the ends exposed.
Fully carpeted stairs are generally built from construction type lumber and then covered. Hence the price difference.
The reason your framer is asking now is because they cut the stringers based on the thickness of the treads. Hardwood being about 1 1/16 vs 1 1/2 for construction. So, yes, he will build them differently. And yes, you will have to rip them out later to do wood.
If it was my house, I would do a hardwood landing and fully carpeted stairs above that. I would spend the money on a nice railing, newel and balusters. The things you would see from the living room. Hope this helps.
I would argue that the hardwood stairs with a runner would give you the best options for the future. As you know, construction grade wood under wall to wall carpet would mean rebuilding the stairs if you should want hardwood treads. Stairs get a lot of use and the wall to wall stair carpet wears out -and looks ugly - sooner than you might want.
The runner can be anchored with a rod and two screw eyes at the back of each tread, making replacement, or just removal quite simple. Runners can cost a moderate amount or thousands depending what you select. Your house looks to be a colonial style so I'm guessing a runner would be a classy addition. I would install one runner from the living room floor up and across the landing. Then a runner from the base of the riser that meets the landing up to the top of the stairs.
If you eventually want hardwood treads and/or a runner it,'s a pay-me-now or pay-me-later deal. Later will cost more. I'm sure it will be expensive now but your framer should have a name or two of someone you could ask. Any carpet store should be able to give you the name of a stair builder. Do hardwood stairs now with a reasonably priced runner and replace just the runner in a few years.
Do it - you're worth it! And good luck.
oldfred
That house is so nice, I would install hardwood stairs now. You can purchase oak treads from HD at a reasonable price. The risers can be pre-primed pine and painted white for a nice classic look...worst case you can buy carpet stair treads so the stairs are not slippery and then buy a runner at a later date...
My sister's house has a similar stair configuration. She a runner in each direction and had them some together where they overlapped each other..looks like rugs laying on top of each other instead of a formal runner...really nice!!!
Can I make a suggestion on your floor plan?? Can you switch the closets to the righ tof the entry door/study? This way the coat closet door isn't banging into the entry door and the study closet is closer to the corner instead of in the middle of the wall...Just a thought!!!
Do it in hardwood, now. Decide after you live with it a year whether you want to do a rug-runner.
Leave the landing hardwood, of course. Have it match the adjacent floor one step down.
And of course, do the step treads in the same wood species as the flooring.
Carpet on stairs gets old real fast.
And, finished wood treads are not slippery. Think of how often you see hardwood stair treads. They are ubiquitous.
Slippery is ceramic tile in bathroom floors. Wooden stair treads are classic.
I totally agree with all of you...we love the look of hardwood stairs over carpet any day! We just are finding ourselves saying yes to a lot of "extras" and I'm starting to get nervous about the "extras" we might want down the road too.
The point that was made about how the carpet will likely wear out quickly could sway us over the edge. Also, thanks for the tips too on how to do the runner with a landing like we'll have.
We'll have to think about it. :)
Thanks for your help!
-Kacy
They're not slippery? Even with socks? Our (future) kids bedrooms are both upstairs. I just have visions of my children slipping and falling down some pretty unforgiving wood stairs.
Also, what about the installation? Is this something we could do and still make it look very nice? I don't want it to look like someone threw it together who didn't know what they were doing...
If we took the time to learn how to do it correctly, is it something you could get right your first time trying?
-Kacy
The tricky part of finish stairs is open treads...if you have them open on the living room side, the joint between the riser and the skirt board can be troublesome..but with a little patience and practice, it is do-able...
Wool socks on bare wood treads can be VERY slippery. (Been there) I'd put a runner on. My rule is: if it costs less than a trip to the Emergency Room it's a good deal.
With no information on your past experiences with finish work, it's difficult to say what success you'll have doing your own tread work. Finish stair work is considered to be one of the more demanding skills in house construction.
oldfred
Do the hardwood now. I found this link while answering another thread... but it is mostly applicable here. (you will not have to worry about "adjusting" the treads). http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodinstaller/stairs-measuring.htm 7 pages... follow the navigation at the bottom.
Doing it now gives you the most flexibility and will really add to the aesthetics of the house.
It is doubtful you will find a good finish carp to come out and JUST do the staircase (unless it is one whale of a staircase). The time to move in would be as long as the actual construction time.
The landing? That is a matter of personal taste and function. Personally... I stop the runner at the end of the actual stairway and do an inlay on the landing. But then again... inlay might be a bit much for someone who is just learning how to work with hardwood floors!! LOL
kc..... lot's of our stairs are like your plan.. the prevailing treatment is oak treads, painted risers.. either a small wall up the pitch with a cap and balusters.. or the balusters right on the treads..
a newel at the bottom, and a half newel at the top of the pitch
most of them end up with carpeted runners, about 28" wide , with about 4" of oak showing on each side
they usually get carpeted because of pets..... dogs can go up , but they slide and fall comming down...
same thing with people....
the runners wear very wellMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Last week I converted a set of carpeted stairs in birch. A similar configuration to yours but with 3 winders instead of a landing. Believe what the rest of the crew here is telling you, if you really want hardwood, do it now. You will save yourself a ton of money. If you go with hardwood treads, I would do the landing in hardwood flooring. Add a hardwood nosing.
This stairway is visible from your main entrance and the windows of your front porch, it will be a feature in a very important room in your home. Whether you go hardwood or carpet, make the railing and fireplace mantle an eyecatcher.
Be Constructive
Gord
St.Margaret's Bay NS
If I recall correctly, you're designing the house as an "updated 1840s farmhouse"? If you were doing a reproduction 1840s farmhouse, a venetian carpet or an ingrain carpet would be appropriate, but in any case, it's a look worth considering.
Here's a couple links of newly-installed stair runners.
http://www.ingraincarpet.com/ingrain008.htm
http://www.ingraincarpet.com/ingrain007.htm
These examples appear to be painted treads and painted risers, but varnished treads and painted risers is also a classic look.
There's one shot of a landing, but I can't quite make out how they handled the carpet. But it seems like the carpet should continue onto the landing, and end at the floor level ...
Allen
kc...
here's a stair we gussied up last year .. one is turned landing.. half housed stringer..
we removed the short straight rail and reinstalled it, after staining and finishing
then we built the outer rail running up the pitch
View Image
the other shot is one of the job Supt.... Jeeves
and the last is looking down from the 3/4 landing
Edited 2/19/2005 9:11 pm ET by Mike Smith
here's a straight run with half-wall.. carpet runner.. baulsters in raised pitch
View Image
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Edited 2/19/2005 10:14 pm ET by Mike Smith
Mike, does your inspector carry a 4" diameter ball with him? One would sail right through those pickets!
that one was built in about '87, by someone i have no idea....
so we just took it apart and put it back together as it was ...... only betterMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Hey Mike,
Thanks so much for those pictures. I think we decided to do something like the first set of pics you posted. With the oak only showing on the railing side for the first few steps. It seems like a good compromise. You still get the look of wood for the part that shows the most and yet will not cost as much as full oak treads.
And we do have dogs so having that carpeted should help them go up and down without injury! As well as any future kids too.
Thanks everyone for your help. You pretty much nailed down exactly what we were leaning towards. We just needed an extra "push" to get the look we really wanted.
-Kacy!
If you're talking about oak end caps w/ pine treads, you may be spending more for the install labor, and you're still stuck with carpet and having to change it...that's a pretty grand house<G>... Don't worry, we can fix that later!