Is this plywood or solid wood underneath my carpeted stairs?

5 years ago

I ripped up only a small part of the carpet on my first step to be able to stick it back in without stapling it. Can you tell from these pictures if it is plywood or solid wood? If you think it is solid, what kind of wood is it?

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

SJ McCarthy
5 years ago
Probably plywood. Simply peel back the carpet to expose the edge of the tread to see if you have "layers" like the landing or if you have a sold piece of wood. It's that simple.
Eda
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks! I will peel back the carpet all the way to see what it is.
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Eda
Original Author
5 years ago
Yes, you were right. It is plywood :(

I am hoping to refinish these instead of buying new solid stair treads. The treads seem to have nice rounded edges (although, it shows the layers, which is bummer). I thought they might look nice if I can maybe sand and then stain them, but I am not sure I guess with all the weird stains, red spots (seen in picture), handwriting with Sharpie here and there and some gunk. I'll have to just try and see...
adparker53
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
are you sure those treads are plywood (specifically the picture you posted in the comment above)? to me it just looks like wood grain (plus dirt and carpet glue)..

The landing is definitely playwood, but could be rebuilt with solid wood if you or someone in your house is a little handy with a saw.

We sanded and stained the (previously carpet) stairs to our basement, which looked a lot like yours to start. My husband bought pre-fab stair treads at home depot to recreate a solid wood landing, took him a few hours to do both landings.
Eda
Original Author
5 years ago
OMG, really?!! I tried to see if there are layers on the edge of the stairs (sort of like those on landing) as SJ McCarthy suggested. I thought those horizontal lines on the edge are layers, so I immediately thought they are plywood. I really do hope I am wrong.

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Is this plywood or solid wood underneath my carpeted stairs?

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Is this plywood or solid wood underneath my carpeted stairs?

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SJ McCarthy

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