# Help! Hardwood and Particle board mix stairs under carpet



## Rnp18 (Aug 2, 2017)

Hey there. I'm new here and having a bit of a "bang my head against the wall" moment.. except I won't do that bc I have enough repairs on my hands as is. I've always liked to consider myself a handy, independent gal, but I'm in over my head here. Just moved into a house with carpeted stairs and, when I ripped up the carpet from the bottom two steps, they were solid wood and I thought removing the carpet, sanding and staining would be a piece of cake. Wrong. Almost all of the risers are particle board, with minimal hardwood here and there. I can't afford full hard wood installation, but I can't leave them as they are. Is it possible to cover the risers with thin pieces of wood and have some solid wood pieces cut to replace the wedges (stair turns) and then stain them to one uniform color? What is the least expensive route with the best aesthetic outcome? I need all the help I can get!


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Your best bet is new carpet. New hard wood means new wood risers cutting the nose off and covering the tread with new.
Then the measurement of the risers top and bottom steps should match the rest of the steps, tripping hazard.


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## Rnp18 (Aug 2, 2017)

I really have my heart set on wood stairs. I have a tiny foyer, with nothing else but a garage on my first floor, so the stairs are all you see as soon as you walk in my house. I knew I wanted to remove the carpet before I purchased the house, I just didn't anticipate this hurdle. Any suggestions on how to go the wood route? If the diy options are beyond my abilities, is this something I would have to get a flooring company to help with? I hate to pay very much since a lot of the "bones" are already there.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Don't know your skill level but the job would start with cutting the nose off flush with the risers.
Add usually painted wood to the risers covering the freshly cut nose. The cover the tread with a new tread with the nose shaped onto the front.
For the landing you use hardwood nosing that is only about 3" wide and finish the landing with hard wood.

If you can't find flooring and nosing and ready made treads that all match then you go with flooring and the 4" nose on all the stairs and landings

Landing = pie shaped stairs

As the molding and trim is already in all your cuts will have to very nice for fit and finish.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

The biggest issue would be dealing with the landings. The risers can be covered with 1/4" oak plywood or if wanting to go cheaper you could use luan and paint the risers. If you go with painted risers, clean all your existing hardwood first and prime/paint the risers before installation. You'd still need to apply the final coat of enamel after installation.


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## BIG Johnson (Apr 9, 2017)

I don't think you have any hardwood. Looks like a mix of OSB and pine. 

If you want all oak then check the stair code, measure your stringers and plan out redoing the whole thing. Buy the oak treads and risers as you can afford them. Start at the bottom and a only remove the risers and treads you'll be replacing that day. I'd use the same flooring as on the floor above for the windings.


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## JIMMIEM (Nov 17, 2016)

You don't mention what your budget is but you can buy unfinished treads and riser material and finish them your self for a lot less than paying somebody to do it. First thing to do is measure all rises and runs to see if everything is code compliant. This will tell you what you have to work with i.e. remove and replace or do an overlay. All landings...top, bottom, and midway must be code compliant. How many steps in total and what is their width and length? What are the dimensions of the mid point landings? Not to get ahead of things but lumber yards will have better and less expensive treads than HD or Lowes. It's important to do a lot of planning up front to avoid surprises down the road. Stair work requires more attention to detail than regular flooring work so if you wind up hiring flooring people make sure stair work is in their wheelhouse.


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## Blondiebachus (Sep 30, 2021)

Rnp18 said:


> Hey there. I'm new here and having a bit of a "bang my head against the wall" moment.. except I won't do that bc I have enough repairs on my hands as is. I've always liked to consider myself a handy, independent gal, but I'm in over my head here. Just moved into a house with carpeted stairs and, when I ripped up the carpet from the bottom two steps, they were solid wood and I thought removing the carpet, sanding and staining would be a piece of cake. Wrong. Almost all of the risers are particle board, with minimal hardwood here and there. I can't afford full hard wood installation, but I can't leave them as they are. Is it possible to cover the risers with thin pieces of wood and have some solid wood pieces cut to replace the wedges (stair turns) and then stain them to one uniform color? What is the least expensive route with the best aesthetic outcome? I need all the help I can get!


I know this is an old post but I have a similar situation, My home is 10 years old now with hardwoods downstairs and carpeted stairs and upstairs. Eventually we are recarpeting the upstairs but for now I want to remove the carpet from the stairs and stain them. I wondered what you ended up doing and how it turned out.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

What are your treads consisted of? Often when stairs get carpet they just use framing lumber [2x12s] for the treads They aren't conducive for stain/poly.


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