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Engineered wood for stairs?

14 years ago

Has anyone ever used engineered wood planks for stair treads? We are going to be installing a maple engineered floor and are considering doing the stairs as well... probably treads in the engineered planks with nosing, and the risers painted (we considered risers in wood as well, but looks a little heavy handed with all the wood).

Also, is the bullnosing used for tread steps usually solid wood? I know the planks themselves are 7 ply engineered construction, but is the nosing used on the steps solid through? (it would seem so looking at nosing from other manufacturers online).

thanks!

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Comments (3)

bommai
14 years ago
We are going to get that done. We are getting hand scraped hardwood (maple) for our floors as well as our stairs. We saw a house like that and it was beautifully done and so we are copying them!
bommai
14 years ago
I forgot to attach the picture.

Check this out:

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Thank you... and yes... I Did it! I managed to pry off the bullnose pieces without touching the planks, and only one of the bullnose pieces cracked a little. I think some good wood glue and clamps will take care of that. What I did was put a small piece of of the flooring set vertically underneath the end of the bullnose. Put a pry bar underneath it and gentle and with patience pried pushing up the bullnose along the front edge, little by little until the bond with the glue broke, and then I started to hear the nails creak as they came up.
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Have the guy who says he can match the floor stain show you a sample to show you. don't just take his word. I do a lot of custom staining of treads to match a prefinish color. If someone were to ask me to show them a sample before them wanting it done, I would have absolutely no problem in doing so. I would def do solid treads. they will hold up better, and not to mention down the road if you wanted to change colors you could do so. engineered wont give you that option, at least not multiple times. just my opinion on this, but do not distress the treads to match the wear of the floor. it never looks as good as one hopes and its kind of a waste or time. Its a stairway, its suppose to stand out as its own attraction.
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Can anyone tell if these are engineered or solid wood treads?
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Comments (19)
As Uptown Floors explained, "solid" wood treads are not cut from a big tree - they are made from smaller pieces glued together. Look at the first photo you posted - you can see the stripes of different grain. These are different pieces of wood. But they are assembled and glued so well that they act as a single piece of wood - without the propensity to warp that would happen if they were sliced from a tree in one piece. Your contractor who recommended solid treads was referring to treads exactly like those shown in your photo. Good luck with your project!
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Should "nosing" have been used?
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Comments (4)
Does the floor manufacturer offer nosings? Are they available? It's not a sure things these days. What he did takes work and looks great. I wonder if there's a remedy that will stop the splintering. I did a similar treatment at the insistence of a designer. After some initial splintering it seems to be holding up pretty well.
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motifone
Original Author
14 years ago
Interesting, thanks for sharing. We are getting the 5" wide planks, hand scraped engineered maple for our flooring -- looks very similar to the wood in the pics. These appear to be 5" planks in the picture you posted as well.

We are thinking of doing the risers in white though.

Your picture is helpful because I can also see the nosing. The nosing appears to be a solid piece of wood, which I think it is how it is done. The texture of the nosing appears a bit different but still might be ok.

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