Landing, standing with my back to the gameroom:

Subfloor (contractor said that piece of wood under the ballustrades would be removed):

Thanks for advice.

I'm with Johnson Flooring on this one. I'd install strip flooring to match other hardwood flooring. A trim carpenter should be able to install T&G hardwood flooring.

Thank you for responding and your advice. I think you are right. The carpenter is very talented at what he does: custom cabinets, staircases, beams, building and rehabbing all manner of furniture, custom doors, great trim work, etc; but he is not a wood floor installer.

I'm not hiring a GC for this project. So in order to get the timing right, tell me if this is the right sequence: carpenter demos the carpet, railings, balustrades, post, etc, and gets really accurate measurements of what's there now. Makes and installs the wood treads, risers, landings, and removes the wood that is currently going around the edges of the top landing. When he's done with all that I'll have the woodfloor installer do their work. Then the carpenter will come back and finish the posts, railing and balustrades, and some trim work. Then painters come to paint and stain everything. The carpenter is pretty flexible, so I don't think he will mind having a break in the project for the wood floor people to come. And we've worked together very well before, so I don't think he will be insulted that I feel more comfortable hiring a dedicated wood floor installer.

Detail question: For the 2 steps going up from the landing to the gameroom, should the carpeter do these steps before the woodfloor person comes or after? I was thinking after, so that the wood floor runs all the way to that step and the riser sits on top of that.

Thanks again for responding; this is very helpful.

I'm so clueless about flooring I don't even know what T&G is. We have the thick kind of hardwoods downstairs (that can be refinished), red oak in a medium brown stain, so I prefer that instead of engineered, thin or fake.

T&G = tongue and groove :)

I'll be following as I'm also having my carpeted stairwell replaced by wood, along with our main level. Second level will be carpet. Our landings are not as extensive as yours, but our plan is similar: floor installers will install the same wood planks on the landings, stair guy is installing the solid wood stair treads. Not sure who is putting the nosing on the landings...guess I need to get that confirmed!

Michelle,

Thanks for responding. Maybe we will learn about wood treads together!

I am a nerd who likes to read and research. I'm so happy to be doing this staircase project because we have finished all our upstairs and downstairs remodels, but the connection (the stairs) is old, yucky and carpeted. Finishing this project will connect the remodeled spaces. We couldn't do a whole house remodel at once, so it's been going on for about 6 years.

As far as the nerdy-reading part: I found a summary of the IRC (International residential codes) for internal staircases online. It was on a stair-parts company's website, and it was just a summary and might have be edited, outdated, etc. I haven't been able to find the original source material, so I'm going to the library tomorrow. My carpenter assured me he knows the codes, but I like to see them for myself.

If there is a pro on here who could send me the actual IRC staircase rules, that would be much appreciated.

AJCN, totally hear you about nerdy reading..Our home was destroyed by Hurricane Michael, demo'd to studs and slab in most places, and is being built back up. I have had to learn more about each and every step of construction than I had ever hoped. I'm absolutely not an expert, but have had to become educated to ensure our forever home is built back better than ever.

I don't have the IRC, but I've reviewed the applicable Florida Building code which can be found here, section R311.7: https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/FRC2017/chapter-3-building-planning

Of note are the required max rise, and variance between minimum and maximum rise. We've done the measurements, know that we need some creative adjustments to meet code, and are hoping our experienced stair sub can come up with a plan. Haven't seen them yet but hopeful!

Regarding the order of events, we are planning for wall painting to be complete, then stairs, then floors (main level and landings), then molding/trim. We'll see what actually happens but that is the plan.