Sorry no one has come along to help. These rubber treads are industrial grade. We see them in hospital stair wells, etc. They are the toughest thing in your house, bar none. The adhesive used is industrial strength as well. That's the GOOD NEWS!

The bad news is the vinyl is SOOOOO thing (how thin SJ?) that you will knock these stairs out of code as soon as you use anything other than Berber carpet. That means you will spend HORDES of money ($100/tread for carpet) to get rid of the TOUGH AS NAILS rubber and install carpet treads.

If you want ANYTHING ELSE, you will have to pay MUCH MUCH MORE. I'm not kidding. You will need to bring in a company that ONLY does stairs. We've seen stairs cost $250/tread to refinish...and that's ASSUMING the new finish does NOT bring in code violations. If it does knock them out of code, you are in for some SERIOUS heart/financial pain.

Stairs have 15+ different code requirements attached to them (depending where in the world you live). For home insurance and liability insurance, your stairs MUST meet code. If you change the stairs and then someone gets hurt, your insurance company will deny your claim. It gets ugly. Lawsuits fly, etc.

I would leave these in place UNTIL you have ALL LEVELS of flooring changed out AT THE SAME TIME. That way the money you put into the stairs will be worth it.

It isn't the finish that is expensive...it is the 'sticking to code' that is expensive.

Caveat Emptor. Buyer Beware. These stairs have PANDORA'S BOX written all over them. And not the cute Mall store version. I mean the GODS OF CHAOS playing in the Devil's work-shop type of Pandora's Box.

Thanks SJ for the thoughtful response here! Sigh I had NO idea this would be so expensive. I see your point regarding the flooring. Just so I understand — when you say it will knock out the stairs, you mean taking off the tread will knock out all the stairs completely and they would have to rebuild?

Taking off the vinyl tread isn't much of an issue, it is what you ADD to the tread that is going to cause issues. To keep the stairs with-in code, you need to REPLACE the rubber treads with something IDENTICAL IN THICKNESS.

Eg. You have 2mm rubberized treads (I'm guessing, this is for demonstration/mathematical equations only) you MUST replace it with something that is within 1-2mm of the same thickness. That means you can remove the tread and do NOTHING. Or you can add something that is as thick as 4mm.

You are now down to "new paint" or you are working with "berber carpet". That's it. That's all you can work with. If you go ANY THICKER, you will run the risk of the treads being out of code...and you have a choice, you either REBUILD the stairs (or shave them down if they are concrete) = super expensive...as in super duper expensive. Or you have to add the SAME MATERIAL at the top and at the bottom of the stairs....and all landings.

Eg. You want to add 12mm (1/2") hardwood caps to the treads. You MUST add 1/2" thick flooring to the top floor, all landings and the BOTTOM of the stairs/lower floor.

This is why it is best to tackle the stairs AT THE SAME TIME you put in new flooring at the top, on the landing(s) and/or when you redo the flooring at the bottom.

Believe it or not, adding new flooring throughout the house can be very close to the same cost as rebuilding a set of stairs...especially extreme stairs such as yours. This is why stairs are SOOO expensive.

Good luck. I would live with them until you have a budget that can address stairs AND flooring all at once.

Well said mdln!

Despite their industrial vibe, I think it is very attractive.

Thank you all for your input here! This has been extremely helpful! Quotes to remove this are $XXK expensive and just not worth it at this juncture. Leaning into industrial it is!

There you go! Embrace the GOOD things about these treads and ignore the rest. Remember: they are treads ... nothing more and nothing less. Make your home the way you want it. The treads can be ignored when stunning art sits on walls or in nooks, etc.

This thread is so helpful for me! I plan to take the carpet off my basement stairs (ugh for carpet) and was wondering what to replace it with. Wood is so expensive and some say LVP treads are slippery. I was leaning towards using rubber tread, and these comments have convinced me it's the right way to go - inexpensive, non-slip, and easy to clean.