if its a looped-pile or mixed loop/cut, then its improper way to waterfall a stair system. looped carpets need to be edge turned. they will wear out and fray if they arent. Call the retailer/contractor back and get them to replace them. If they are cut pile, then that is standard, unless the skirt boards are out of square or unparallel to each other, then they may need to be edge turned to keep from excessive gapping where the carpet meets the skirt boards. IF you have gaps, that that is probably the cuplrit and they should have edge turned. That is also standard. A big mistable many neophyte carpet installers make with steps is not pre-measuring the stringer board widths to ensure they are square with the steps verticle plane and parallel to each other. If they give an excuse that any of the above is because of your steps condition(s), then they are uneducated hacks or they are lying to you.

marzhere, do you have a pic of that? mighty said that due to the force placed on that part of the stair, one should use a full tread. i understand that but those places that you do use the nose molding, wouldn't they be an issue too? I'm sure i've seen it done before somewhere.

Hi, your question seems contradictory. You say rough cut wood, but then you say it's treads and risers. Which is it? They should not be the same. Treads and risers are millwork, not rough cut lumber. If you bought millwork, like treads and risers, it is probably already very dry. Keep that in the house, stacked loose on stickers (small rips of scrap that allow air to move between) until ready to install. If there's framing lumber, like 2x10's for carriages and rough stringers, leave that in the garage, stacked tight. If it begins to dry out, it could warp. Casey

I've done this twice - I riped vinyl type flooring off one set of stairs, and carpet on another. At the first house, it was soft (read: dog nails scratched the heck out of the stairs) pine. So, I took thin planks of an oak veneer, painted designs for the risers(hey, I was young) and glued them back on. The biggest issue was joining the rise and the run, and I used a L piece of moulding to cover the line where they joined. Only problem that I had was that I used pine moulding, which was got beat up in no time. At the second place, I was lucky in that the treads were solid maple, and I tiled the risers with a nice Italian floor tile (border height so that it fit, displayed a pattern, etc). I now have carpeted stairs again, with builder rough lumber underneath. To make matters worse (or, more expensive), my railing spindles are attached directly to the treads, so railings would have to be adjusted etc if I were to replace the treads or try to cover them with hardwood. My hardwood flooring installer suggested hardwood veneer on the risers, and recarpet the treads for a new look.....