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

idrive65, Adorable model, what is your Dogs name and breed? Do you have to keep the toenails trimmed, how do you keep them short? We have two miniature poodles and a Collie and are concerned about adding a hardwood floor to the Kitchen. Even though we think that it will look great with the white cabinets and be much more comfortable than our hard tile floor! Is this White Oak barn wood a hard or soft wood? Your floors are beautiful, where did you find these and are they expensive? We live in the Mid-west, are these rare? Thank you for sharing! roseofblue Aw thanks. The pup is supposedly pure Labrador retriever, but we got him third hand and he's a mighty skinny specimen for a lab. I don't trim his nails as often as I should because he hates it, I do it badly, and twice I've cut him (ouch!) so he runs and hides when those clippers come out. I may try the dremel route mentioned upthread. White oak is a hardwood but not as hard as many imported species, of which there are quite a few between Hickory and the one imported that I listed, Jatoba. (Ipe, used for decking, is 3684 and considered fireproof!) Upstairs we mixed white with red oak and antique chestnut. In one area where dh wheeled on office chair back and forth (!) you can see wear on the chestnut, a little on the red oak, and none on the white oak boards. According the janka scale: White pine: 420 So. yellow pine: 690-870 Cherry: 950 Red Oak: 1290 White Oak: 1360 Hard Maple: 1450 Hickory: 1820 Jatoba (aka "Braz. Cherry") 2350 I agree with all who say the finish matters. The aluminum oxide finishes on pre-finished floors is very durable. Others have site finished with waterlox which is easily touched up as needed, you can search for photos of ccoombs floors for photos of beautiful waterloxed oak floors. My dh owns an flooring company that sells only antique remilled products so he made the floors for us. We actually kept a lot of boards that might be culled for a customer because I wanted a "busy" floor. Thankfully it matches the dog hair and hides the scratches very well!

Forgot to mention the original steps are concrete, that we put treated deck boards over, will also remove this and possibly put a brick veneer or tile or stone on.

If those are the only 3 choices. The top one. But I would look for something slightly lighter than that one.