I found this product online. I also put a few scatter rugs around, mostly for the dog so she didn't slip! Good Luck! Here is a link that might be useful: stair protection

Yes, I confess, I am a closet clean freak. I try to pretend I am not but really I can not help it. I don't love to clean, I just can't relax if I walk on a floor with even one tiny little sand grit on my foot. Even with college roomates I was the girl cleaning at 3 am. While everyone was passed out drunk. I was raised this way. You should see my sisters. We all scrub our floors on hands and knees. No one walks in our homes with shoes on. Every night before bed I wipe down the floors in the kitchen. Maids quit with me they don't get fired. : ) I must be from a long line of cleaning ladies... When I gave birth to my first child, my mother and aunts arrived. My husband was shocked to find one aunt scrubbing the sidewalk in front of our home. She bleached the steps and walkway. It was then DH realized that he married into a family of clean freaks. Sorry to go off topic. I guess this is why the felt pads work for my floor. Or maybe it is me working for the felt pads. > Boxerpups (Yes, I chase dog hair like the rest of the world)

I have installed 1/2" x 6" felt pad strips to the bases you refer to. http://www.amazon.com/Equinox-Floor-D-Fender-Pad/dp/B002CM3AC4 You should clean the bottom well first and may need to lightly sand before application. If you have a problem with them sticking, you can coat the bottom of the rim with contact cement. That should do the trick.

Sigh...the description tells it all: "...PVC..." Sorry but PVC is VINYL!!!! And VINYL has a chemical reaction to hardwood floor finishes! They are not allowed to go anywhere near each other. Vinyl and latex (natural rubber as well as most forms of man-made rubber) are DEATH to hardwood floor finishes. The 'plasticizers' in vinyl (PVC) and in latex/rubber products (the stuff that makes them soft and 'rubbery') are the culprits. These plasticizers are have a chemical reaction (touch) once placed on top of the urethane/polyurethane finishes. And to be clear, it is the hardwood floor/finish manufacturer that dictates if something is 'safe' for use on hardwoods. Which the link does not say....it just says "protects hardwood floors"...but it does not have the magic words: "Safe for Use with Hardwood Floors". I'm sorry this has happened. To figure out if any of this has to do with "curing", simply run your fingers over the grid pattern. If you can "feel" the grid pattern, then it is a curing issue (the weft has left indentations IN the finish = soft finish = curing was not allowed given enough time). I would go with felt in this area until the time comes to have the floors refinished (in 20 years or so). Good luck.