It's an awesome staircase, except for that inlay in the carpet. I'm sure it was hard to do but it's a design fail. I actually think these stairs would look great fully carpeted, with something fluffy.

I would recover them with some sort of flat weave carpet.

I would recarpet them but, like palimpsest, I would like a flatter weave carpet.

I think you could add a wood nosing and flooring. The flooring would need to be about the same thickness as the laminate, so you don't vary the riser heights. What do the treads look like from below now? Is it carpeted?

The tread height may have been designed for the thickness of the carpet, so it may be able to take a thickness of finished wood on the top, the vertical faces, and the bottom without messing up the relative "riser" height. (You would have to have an extremely good finish carpenter to do this.

You will need to measure what the height from the floor to the Uncovered bottom step is and the height from the Uncovered top step to the upper floor and see how this varies from that of the relative heights between the steps. That will give you an idea of what thickness you can have for replacement.

The problem with varying thickness will show at the top or the bottom. If the top step ends up a little taller than the rest because of a change in material, it will be a tripping issue at the top. If the bottom step turns out to be a little lower it could cause a tripping issue on the second step. Or, on the way down hitting the floor a fraction of an inch "too soon" could rattle your teeth. I am sure everybody has walked on steps like this.

I think unless you want to spend huge $$$$$ a nice flat weave carpet will be the best answer I have never seen that type with the laminate very odd.You might be able to do a wood overlay type tread since the spacing was for the carpet it might be okay.

You either rebuild everything to use wood, or you get rid of the wood insert, do some math, and figure out a carpet.

@seabornman yes the bottom of the treads are carpeted, completely wrapped. i definately prefer the look of wood vs carpet. you think wood nosing and flooring would work? i will look into that!

heres 2 different views of the bottom of some of the stairs...

@palimpsest okay, thanks for the thorough answer. once i remove more carpet i will be sure to take those measurements. hope to avoid tripping & teeth rattling!

my stair budget probably cant handle a very skilled carpenter let alone find one interested in the work out in our remote area. probably need to DIY. do you know if there are premade "wood caps" that would at least wrap 3 sides?

unfortunately there are 24 treads so its going to take some time to complete.

The short answer is there is nothing in premade wood that you could easily cover those treads with. They were really designed from the beginning to be covered with carpet.

@palimpsest I was afraid you were going to say that. thanks again you helped a lot!

Armstrong VCT tiles in a bright color could be pretty!

Cari, are you willing to learn how to miter and use a router? Also, does the staircase see lots of traffic? Home improvement stores sell soft pine treads, but I think they would still need to be modifiied since 4 sides are exposed. A regionally important local hardwood may be a better choice to wear well. You can use 45 degree miters to fully box them, but you would want the front of the tread to be rounded, hence using a router.

Another idea may be to have a tread that is just a bit wider to overhand both the front and back, and then bullnose both the front and back. Then you could flush fit the risers to the tread and miter the bottom of each step to the risers.

It looks like your railings and stiles are oak, but I can’t tell what the rest of the wood is.

Also, I would probaby only remove the carpet and replace with wood one step at a time. The rough structural wood looks like a mishap waiting to happen.

Take it off and replace with oak🧐

I hate hate hate vacuuming stairs, and dust always gathers in the edges. I can’t imagine vacuuming the bottoms of all those stairs!!

The easiest thing to do would be paint with porch paint. Second would be build a wooden sleeve/"slip-cover" for each tread out of nice stainable wood, but $$$$.

Here's a photo of a floating staircase with a flatweave rug. This would certainly give your staircase an updated modern look!

We planned to refinish our floating stairs in a recent remodel at our lake house but the budget was ballooning so we decided to just pull the carpet (along with several million staples), paint and seal the treads. That small change was infinitely better than the nasty carpet, and we're not in a hurry to upgrade any time soon. You have hand rails on both sides, be sure to use them if you remove the carpet.

FWIW, OakValleyDesigns.com advertises various carpet options with peel and stick backing. I haven't researched it but found it interesting as a possible option for us to wrap a portion about the width of your laminate over the painted treads.

Cover and cap the treads with real wood, dimensional lumber. Or how about finish grade plywood?...and then stain it. Semi transparent is great because you see the grain while adding the aesthetic of color. Easier to maintain than paint.

You could put a natural or wood-toned finish on them. I can't help but think a black stain would be rich.

You can use whatever thickness material needed on top of the treads to compensate carpet thickness. On the bottom tho, one can use thinner material. Your cap would cover the ends of both the top and bottom wood/plywood pieces.