Hi, I've recently bought some handscraped dark walnut flooring for my downstairs and am intending on buying some natural strand woven natural bamboo for my upstairs. It suddenly struck me that I don't have to carpet my staircase, I could lay wood on it instead. I have been warned off the idea by parents saying it would be too noisy.. so I have some questions.. Do you underlay wood on stairs as you would a normal wood floor? (decreasing the noise?) Is it a special type of wood flooring you purchase for laying on stairs, or do you get your normal planks and cut the sides off to fit? I guess maybe not as you won't have smooth edges? Is it best to colour match the downstairs floor to the wood on the stairs? (i'm not sure if this handscraped stuff would cut well for stairs) or does it not really matter.. I have a straight staircase run from the downstairs floor that ends at a landing with bedroom doors coming straight off the landing. Edit: This guy seems to have got regular floorboard type planks and stained them to match his downstairs.. is this the way it's done? http://www.apeman.org/2009/01/09/207/ Edit Again: So I can get these things called stair treads I see.. Where I cut off the existing nose of each stair and lay these over the top.. I imagine I might find it hard to get something of the same colour/grain/pattern though! Thanks!
In your case, it sounds like you are going to have 2 different colors of wood. It might look better to break it up with carpet on the stairs. I like the look of wood on stairs, but I also know that it can be a little slippery, especially compared to carpet. Back to your original question, laying wood on the stairs can be a challenge. When you purchase your wood floors, you will want to make sure you tell them that that is what you are planning to do with it. They should be able to assist you in getting the right, matching pieces.
also you could try wood on the risers and carpet treads looks nice and when your carpet gets knackered you only need replace the treads that are damaged, just order a bit more than you need for batch shading.
I think i'm going to get a pro in for the doing the stairs. . Hopefully it won't cost a bomb 11 straight steps! Thanks for the Carpet tread idea, I'd never thought of that and it seems a decent idea for someone as clumsy as myself. :smile: Edit: found these..which are perhaps an option if i want to retain as much 'wood look' as possible!
