Beautiful floor! I don't think I've ever seen maple in that color. Are the stair noses are prefinished to match? You'd just use the floor boards on the stair, and the nosing to finish? That sounds pretty straight forward to me and you wouldn't have to worry about either the stain or wear layer; so long as the nosing is wide enough that you can attach it to the horizontal of the stair, not hang it off the front of the vertical surface [which can be done, but is more difficult]. Staining to match is also doable, especially if you are matching a wood with a lot of natural variation. With stair treads, you have a lot of unseen wood on the backs to practice on. A good paint center can help, but since the finish is semi-transparent the underlying wood plays a big role and they can't do it as accurately as they can match a paint. I've intermixed different colors from the same stain families for years. You just need to keep accurate records of what each mix is, and use a little common sense-- don't mix a 'regular' stain with one that has poly added, and read the label to make sure there are no restictions-- Minwax Red Mahogany will only accept certain top coats, for instance, so its a poor choice as part of your mix. But using the factory finish stuff will save you all that hassle.

It would help to let folks know where you hail from. A furniture repair person would be able to melt in a colored shellac repair stick material to fix your problem. Some hardwood floor experts can do that as well. Or, an expert can repair the damage with a piece of oak shaped to fit and then colored and finished to match. Or, eopxy wood restoration paste can be applied and then shaped to gain a smooth result and then grain painted to match the wood to blend in the repair...top with finish and it's done. See?...lots of ways to do this, but you have to find someone who does this type of work or do it yourself. Forget about tread replacement...is not necessary and would just make matters worse.

I recall installing these for a customer a few years back. It's nice stuff. I don't know if you are doing the work or someone else, but to get results that look like the picture takes some very careful measuring and cutting. It's held in place with construction adhesive, lots of construction adhesive. You'll need two pieces for each stair - one for the tread and one for the riser. The bullnose gets cut off the piece for the riser. Because the product as been discontinued, you probably won't get any support from WilsonArt and you might want to check with them about any warranty available. Buy more than you think you'll need, especially if this is a DIY project!

I am installing a solid ipe stair tread on the lower landing of our stairway. It is a full 1" deep and about 48" wide with a 1" bullnose edge. I have gel-stained it a deep, rich cherry color. It has a nice luster right now - without any finish! I'm wondering what the right finish is - given that ipe is such a hard wood. Wax or poly? I've used dark waxes with great result on handrails, but am not sure if it would be right on the stair treads. This is an area where we typically are in stocking feet (except for the dog of course!). I want any future refinishing to be pretty easy to "spot correct" rather than refinishing the entire tread. Thanks in advance for any suggestions! Diane