For classic style and elegance, nothing beats hardwood. This type of flooring adapts to all shapes of stair treads and is available in a range of different wood species, finishes and colours. Oak is renowned for its hardness and durability and is therefore a popular choice in high-traffic areas; however, most other species of hardwood (yellow birch, maple, etc.) can be used on stairs. Wood can vary in price significantly, depending on the species and finish chosen. Wooden stair treads come either untreated or pre-varnished or stained. If you buy them untreated you will need to coat them with polyurethane varnish, recommended for its high resistance. Varnish does tend to change colour slightly or yellow with age, so re-sanding and re-varnishing is often necessary after a few years. To keep the wood looking good, the stairs should be washed either with a product specially designed for hardwood floors or simply with water (without vinegar or detergent). Installing hardwood on stairs can be done by any experienced do-it-yourselfer equipped with the right tools. Many people choose carpeting for the stairs. Carpet comes in a wide variety of colours, patterns, textures and prices, to suit all tastes and needs. Carpet is an excellent sound-absorbing material, which is a definite advantage in busy areas such as the stairs. ciciliotandson

It all depends if you plan to sell the house in the future. It's always recommended to install one type of wood flooring which immediately raises the value of your home. But it's very common to have two different types of floors upstairs and downstairs as long as both types have the same grain characteristics. Doing so will make it easy for a new buyer to stain one floor to match the other if they desire. If thatÂs appealing to you, I would recommend installing Red Oak. Unlike Maple which has smooth and clean grain, Red oak has the same open grain characteristics as Brazilian Cherry and could be stained to match if someone wanted the whole house in one color. If the stairs are visible from the first floor, install Brazilian Cherry treads and risers or stain your existing ones in cherry color. You may also paint the risers in white, which really brings out the tone of the cherry on the treads. Hope that helpsÂ

One of my biggest pet peeves is when houses have different hardwood, especially when the two floors meet/touch. Weedy acres pic looks good, that wouldn't bother me... I just remember walking thru homes seeing real hardwood and then it's touching laminate wood or other hardwood, drives me nuts. You have two levels so maybe it's not a big deal and weedys pic proves that different wood on stairs doesn't look bad. If i We're you i Would put your wood of choice on the stairs and upstairs. Maybe someday down the road you'll rip out the main level and match it...

The stairs *should match the "public" area flooring (as in the main living area floors). If the upstairs is for bedrooms and games room, this would be considered "private" (for the homeowners). If the main floor is the "public" area (living room, kitchen, dining, etc) then the stairs going UP should match the main floor flooring. The reason: the stairs are visible to the public and therefore they should match the public area floors. Now for tiles in the upstairs area. This is not common but it has been done. It takes extra work (and extra materials = extra money) to get this to work over wood-joist construction. The subfloors will have to be assessed for deflection rating. I'll assume they rating isn't good enough for tile (tile is VERY HEAVY and requires very STIFF/thick subfloor). That means you'll need another layer of plywood over top. That plywood will change the height of the subfloor at the TOP of the stairs...which can mess up the stairs themselves (according to code). And then you have to add the tile which can often add as much as 3/4" height - which can again mess up the top step which messes up the stairs yet again. And then we get into the "tile is loud" concept. It is extremely loud. It transfers noise "up and down" (from upstairs to down stairs) as well as "wall to wall" (down hallways, into the bedrooms, etc). To deal with the noise and echo, you could be looking at changing the doors to solid core (expensive proposition depending on how many doors you have). And if you find the noise transfer TOO much (up to down) then you may have to rework the ceiling on the main floor (pull it down, stuff it with acoustic insulation, replace ceiling with acoustic drywall, etc). You can see the $$$$ signs flying out the window. Please look at the upstairs as a part of the whole home. Ask yourself how big your MAXIMUM budget is (once all the bills are paid = includes labor as well). And then find out if it can handle the "extras" such as new subfloor and possibly a stair case that has to be updated to allow for the extra height at the top of the stairs (rebuilding stairs is one of the most expensive projects in the building industry). Then make your decision as to whether or not tile on the second floor is a good idea FOR YOU. You are the only one who can answer that question.