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Building a Home

stair nose vs. stair tread

15 years ago

I just bought floors online (i won $2500 from ifloor.com) but i am putting these floors downstairs and upstairs so i need to get wood stairs too. Mullican does not offer prefinished treads but they do offer stair nosing. so my question is could i just use the stair nosing for each stair? I am a DIYER so surely that would be easier than trying to stain to match all the treads? by the way, the floors are dark stained maple, does that make a difference?

does any one have any pics with stair nosing instead of treads?

Here is a link that might be useful: here are the floors I bought

Comments (3)

marzhere
15 years ago
We installed stair nosing and used hardwood (that was being installed elsewhere) for the 'run'.
oruboris
15 years ago
Beautiful floor!
{{gwi:1512368}}

I don't think I've ever seen maple in that color.

Are the stair noses are prefinished to match? You'd just use the floor boards on the stair, and the nosing to finish? That sounds pretty straight forward to me and you wouldn't have to worry about either the stain or wear layer; so long as the nosing is wide enough that you can attach it to the horizontal of the stair, not hang it off the front of the vertical surface [which can be done, but is more difficult].

Staining to match is also doable, especially if you are matching a wood with a lot of natural variation. With stair treads, you have a lot of unseen wood on the backs to practice on. A good paint center can help, but since the finish is semi-transparent the underlying wood plays a big role and they can't do it as accurately as they can match a paint.

I've intermixed different colors from the same stain families for years. You just need to keep accurate records of what each mix is, and use a little common sense-- don't mix a 'regular' stain with one that has poly added, and read the label to make sure there are no restictions-- Minwax Red Mahogany will only accept certain top coats, for instance, so its a poor choice as part of your mix.

But using the factory finish stuff will save you all that hassle.
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Tara, I am not a flooring person either but was given the same info by my flooring guy. I just put down a QS oak floor which included three stairs. I think the original treads were pine. My floor guy said not to mess with it that he would stain it to match floor. Well I'm not too crazy about how it turned out. My trim Carpenter said he could cover it with oak but the floor guy said it should have been done before floor was laid. I wish now I would have just replaced them.
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The reason not to do it is the wear factor, for the reasons klem1 stated. However, just because that occurs in commercial/apartments/etc. does not mean it will occur that rapidly in your house. Other factors include what type of wood is used, the type of use(daily one or two times versus 10 or more), the finish used, and the humidity/temp changes. Pine stairs could be damaged on the first use. Ipe might never be damaged. Oak could chip off, while hard maple probably would not. Those differences are because of grain density and differences in grain structure.Pine and oak have a lot of difference, Ipe and maple do not. Polyurethane finishes will be chipped and require recoating. The chipping would happen on bull nosed treads, but usually is less noticeable. Non poly varnish would wear, but not be as noticeable and repaired much more easily. Less dense woods(oak/pine/etc) absorb moisture more readily than woods with more closed grain(Ipe/maple). That means more swelling in high humidity and more possibility of damage from chipping over time.
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I’m hoping that it’s not going to be too difficult to find the skill and expertise needed to prepare the treads. We’re in the greater Indianapolis area. Is this a unique enough project (preparing stair treads by matching stain and replicating hand scraped texture) that we might struggle to find someone? Quick Google searches suggest to me that many species of wood treads can be purchased online, including treads with various degrees of distressing, but I’d prefer to work more locally so we can see what we’re getting. I’m pretty sure the flooring store, which has a very good reputation locally, will be qualified to do the installation. I need to get back in touch with my contact at the flooring store for thoughts. I might also reach out the man who custom built our kitchen cabinets to see if this is the type of carpentry work he might do (he did a beautiful job on our cabinets).
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This is exactly what I’m worried about. What did you end up doing?
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mightyanvil
15 years ago
Stair nosing strips are made to allow wood strip flooring at upper levels and landings to terminate at a stair with a bullnose edge. They should not be used on every tread because of the greater force put on those nosings when people put their full weight on them as they step forward and downward. For safety all stair treads should be one piece with a bullnose front edge.

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