What to do with stairs when using laminate or vinyl whole house?

12 years ago

What do you do with stairs when using vinyl plank floating or peel and stick (wood look alike) flooring throughout a 2 story townhouse? The stairs and everything else are currently carpeted. We just went into contract on this house and have not checked under the stair carpet yet but I assume it's basic stair construction meant to be carpeted over.

I thought maybe of putting the vinyl on the stairs too and then putting a carpet runner on top to disguise the fact that it won't look very authentic on stairs. I want to at least have the edges hard surface because that's where the pet fur accumulates on carpeted stairs. I don't mind a runner to help deaden sound, too. Any other ideas?

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cindyloo123

12 years ago

At one time I was thinking of using the vinyl planks in my living room, which has a stairway connected. I am pretty sure I read where someone tried to use the vinyl on stairs and it did not hold.

I ended up using hardwood for my living room, but I didn't want to spend $100 per stair to put wood on my stairs, which will have a runner on them anyway.

I have seen quite a few stories on the Net where people painted their stairs, so I tried it. I am amazed at how well the paint is holding up. I'd procrastinating with putting down a runner, because I love how easy it is to clean the wooden stairs.

The Benjamin Moore floor paint was $65-$75 a gallon. BUT, it dried to the touch in about an hour,it is especially made for floors, and a gallon goes a long way because it is very thin.

Unfortunately I had to paint my stairs during a week when there were extra people and a lot of activity in my house. So I would put a coat on at night and first thing in the morning people were walking on it. It was still tacky so it picked up all of the dirt off people's shoes, but the shoes did not pick up the paint. The paint is thin and you need to do at least three coats. Each coat stays tacky for a few days.

I need to put a fourth coat on mine just because of the dirt that got into the third coat while it was still tacky. But so far I am astonished that the paint seems indestructible.

An extra benefit of painting is that you can fill all the edges with calk and paint over it, so that you don't have a bunch of quarter round trim all over the steps.

I highly recommend painting the stairs rather than trying to do them in vinyl or laminate.

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Comments (12)

Fun2BHere
12 years ago
If you are using laminate, there's a special piece for stair edges. I've linked a video about it below. I have no connection with the video. I found it with a search.

Here is a link that might be useful: Laminate on Stairs
HIWTHI
12 years ago
Did you pose this question to the Flooring Forum? You might get a few more answers over there.
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I have no problem with your choice. The idea of continuity can be seen using MATERIALS or COLOUR. Your tiles are staying which means you will be working with continuity of COLOUR. Excellent. Perfect. Not a problem. The colour of the vinyl is very close to the colour of the carpet. That means you are replacing "like with like". That's an EXCELLENT way to get a change without having to deal with an entirely new colour scheme. Things you will want to know: vinyl is LOUD. The carpet is killing a tremendous amount of noise. Vocal noise. Foot steps. Echos. Everything is being absorbed by the carpet (carpet is very good with foot steps). The vinyl will increase the noise levels in the home. Especially airborne noise from a TV in the living room that travels down the hallway and into the bedroom/den. The other thing you want to know: vinyl will sit LOWER than the tile. Carpet (with proper pad) can sit as high as 3/4" tall. A properly installed tile can sit 3/4" tall. A vinyl plank will sit much, much lower than 3/4" (3/4" = 19mm). If you have a THICK vinyl = 8mm thick. If you choose a thin vinyl = 4mm thick. Either way, you will be looking at a significant transition. Unlike laminate, vinyl planks do NOT allow under pad. Which means the vinyl will sit on the subfloor (concrete or plywood???). If you need to do a floor height raise, you will need to lay sheet plywood over the ENTIRE floor. If you work with laminate (not vinyl) you can use 12mm laminate (1/2") together with 6mm (1/4") cork underlay to achieve the 3/4" floor height raise. Vinyl does NOT allow cork. You will be stuck with either a large step up to the tile, or you will need to lay another layer of underlayment (plywood of some sort) to get the vinyl to sit flush with the tile. Just so you know. Other than that, I have no problem mixing visuals in your situation. The tone on tone of the tile-vinyl = a great way to get continuity. Have fun. You are on the right track.
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Tmnca
Original Author
12 years ago
I did post it to the flooring forum but it is dead over there, no answers after days.

We are using vinyl plank floating or peel and stick, but thought it would eb similar if using laminate.
Tmnca
Original Author
12 years ago
I did post it to the flooring forum but it is dead over there, no answers after days.

We are using vinyl plank floating or peel and stick, but thought it would eb similar if using laminate.
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greenthumbfish
12 years ago
I have this same question... We're about to do all but the kitchen downstairs in vinyl plank flooring and I would also like to do the stairs while we're at it.
sloyder
12 years ago
I would just put down new carpet. Although the laminate guy video is interesting I think it is engineered flooring that he is using. Can't be using a pergo product.
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Tmnca
Original Author
12 years ago
sloyd, the carpet is new - but I will not have carpet in my home, I have allergies and need to keep dust collecting surfaces to a minimum and we have cats, and with our current home with carpeted stairs I have to vacuum them every couple of days because the pet hair accumulates there. A runner down the middle might be OK because the dust and pet hair would stick in the corners not into the carpet as much.

Cindyloo123 painting them is a great idea if the wood underneath looks OK, I will have to rip up the carpet once we get in there and see, I'll try flooring paint and then if it's too slippery we can use stair treads... oh look what I found when I searched on painted stairs - check out the link for inspiration! I am in love with the tiled risers, maybe I will do that!

Here is a link that might be useful: [Alternatives to carpeted stairs[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/12-fresh-alternatives-to-the-carpeted-staircase-stsetivw-vs~50606)
erinsean
12 years ago
We have laminate flooring in our kitchen and where the floor meets the basement stairs, the installer put a type of bullnose edging. I am thinking that if you put that on each of your stair treads, it would a disaster waiting to happen... my toe would get caught and down I would go. There might be something else that can be used....we have linoleum on our stairs and would like to replace it but haven't found the perfect solution yet.
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Fun2BHere
12 years ago
Everything I'm reading seems to suggest that you shouldn't use vinyl plank on stairs. However, there are some discussions that suggest adding a wooden stair nosing to existing stairs and painting it to match the vinyl plank you use on the stair treads and risers.
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sloyder
12 years ago
I liked the tiled stairs, with the wooden bullnose. That would be worth investigating if underneath the carpet is plywood.
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kimiko232
12 years ago
How about this...
Paint the risers (cream or white)or attach a thin sheet of wood to be painted to the fronts. Get new treads stained to match the laminate? SW or BM will match the wood you bring in. I know you can buy new treads for just 10 or 15 dollars each that are oak (assuming you have that). I don't know how handy you are, but that might be fine. I'm guessing that the steps are plywood since they are carpeted.
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What to do with stairs when using laminate or vinyl whole house?

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What to do with stairs when using laminate or vinyl whole house?

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