I’m looking for an easy way to put hardwood flooring on existing stairs. It’s going into a rental property so I don’t want to spend much to do this. A couple ideas I’ve thought of so far would be to cover the treads with 1/4 inch oak plywood with a solid oak strip on the nose or to wrap veneer around the existing treads.
Has anyone ever tried either of these? Will it work? Or is there any other way to do this easily?
Any help would be appreciated.
Replies
I think similar questions have been asked on the Breaktime forum--(three to the left of House Chat at the top of this page) you could post your question there, or go there and do a "search" on past postings.
Unless you are adding the same hardwood or floor thickness onto the floors at the top and bottom of the stairs, you are creating a trip hazard that is also against code. If you add 3/4" onto each tread but not onto the floors at top and bottom you are going to have different stair heights. The rise of each step should not vary.
seems you picked an expensive alternative, at least in labor. i feel the 1/4 inch oak plywood would wear through the veneer in short order and if you're considering 3/4 inch, then the problem is in the 'rise' of the bottm and top step as was mentioned earlier.
i would be looking at carpet for a rental and total cost. i'm sure you already have and ruled it out. so if wood is your choice, then i'd be tearing apart the old steps and making new treads.
If you combined your earlier idea of 1/4 in. ply w/ nosings and combined it with a carpet runner I would not think you'd have problems with this. Alternatively you could see how much work it would be to loosen your staircase and cut 3/4 of an inch off and eliminate the trip 'hazard' keeping in mind you will now have a 3/4 gap in your drywall you would then have to put some sort of a cove mold or something to covere that be advised in older homes the plaster went into the stringer and was quite uneven. On newer homes there is a gap left so the drywallers can slide the sheet behind, and you have no problem. Although all of this seems like a big job. 3/4 difference at the bottom of the stairs doesn't seem like a big deal, in the middle I could understand a little bit more. If the stairs aren't that steep I don't think you'd even notice.