Courtesy of another GW'er, I've found another source for hardwood stair treads at a much more reasonable price. Orubuis--I don't remember the specific product that I used on my stairs but it was some kind of penetrating tung oil. Wasn't Waterlox because I haven't used Waterlox yet. But Waterlox can go over stained wood--that much I know. Just be sure it's an oil-based stain. Another factor with wooden stairs is the noise issue. For that reason you may want a runner. My stairs are back stairs & get tons of abuse. So, yes, they have scratches. But the finish isn't worn thru, chipped, peeling, etc., all the things that can happen to film forming finishes like varnish, poly, etc. And they're easy to sweep down and clean with just a swipe of a rag vs hauling out a vacuum and living with the plain nastiness of carpet, esp. with the location & use of my back stairs. Here is a link that might be useful: Hardwood Lumber (stair treads)

Safety first and to heck with trends. Personal story: On July 1 I tripped on the concrete stairs of the out-of-state motel where we were staying and broke my leg. The bone itself has healed decently, cast is off, but am in my sixties (no osteoporosis) and am in a wheelchair now due to severe pain in my leg and back when I walk (which I do try to do, for exercise). Looks like the chair will be in my life for quite awhile. Meanwhile, my orthopedist has forbidden me to use stairs at all for the next several months (we have eight stairs going up to our front door!). I will never look at stairs the same way. I would put the safest material on the stairs; if that would be a certain type of carpet or runner, then go with that. Please don't write to wish me well, absolutely not looking for sympathy here, am fine, and Do Not Want To Hijack This Thread! I just want to emphasize the places in the home where safety must come first!

Lots of negative waves here! :) We did a lot of thinking and measuring before we jumped in on the project. The above you issues you have all mentioned were big concerns of mine as well, but a lot of details fell in to place. I ended up ordering oak stair treads that were made to order. 1/2 thick on the main tread, return on front and both sides at 1.5" tall (to wrap existing tread), with a 1.5" return extending past the tread. They look very nice and appear to be constructed well. Prior to install, they will get stained and sealed when we get our hardwood floors refinished in a couple of weeks. Regarding liability and code, all of that has been taken in to account and they will actually be better than the original build. On the staircase, the first step from the top, just happened to have a higher rise by 1/2" than all of the other stairs, and the bottom step happened to have 1/2" less than all of the other treads, so after the retrofit they be more in code and consistent throughout the staircase than they were before the retrofit. After removing and numbering all of the spindles, we were able to take out the threaded shaft in the bottoms, cut 1/2" shorter and reinstall a wooden dowel back in its place which will fit in to the drilled holes on the tread. We made up a plumb bob with a dowel rod that fits in to the hole on the underside of the railing. When plugged in, it will give us area to drill the hole for the spindle. There is enough play on the top end of the spindle in to the railing that we will be able to raise them enough to install the tread, lower the spindle base dowel in to the hole, and then secure with a brad nailer. So far so good. Our floor refinishing got put off for a couple of weeks as prior to doing the floors, we had a contractor remove all of our popcorn ceilings in our vaulted living room, kitchen, dining room, mud room, and hallway. That should be removed and painted by within the next two weeks, and the floors are scheduled for Oct 18th. In the interim, I have dry fit all of the treads and numbered them for the steps. Many of them needed some light sanding on the inside of the side returns to properly fit over the exterior trim piece we installed on the sides of the staircase. We will be now be dry fitting, plumb bob, and drill the holes for the spindles so that once the steps are stained, we can do the final install.

I think the proper way is to remove the balusters, cover the entire tread and reinstall the balusters. I can't imagine a solution where Bamboo in the middle of a tread looks good butted up against a false tread end.