I’d be concerned about safety in regards to slippage. If you are painting - I’d still plan for a carpet runner. This will help with slippage and sound.

I suggest you reconsider real wood. Solid 1" thick Oak tread could be shimmed with 1/2" plywood to the proper height to maintain the same finished dimensions you have now. You're already doing most of the work if you intend to remove and replace what's there. My local Lowes carries unfinished Red Oak treads and risers at a fairly reasonable price.

What's the purpose of sound deadening here? What are you trying to suppress?

You will not deaden sound without carpet runner at least and yes you will have to cut each tread to fit since this looks like a not perfect stair case to begin with.

Just re-carpet the stair,,, arguably safer, presents well, and provides noise dampening!

Sheesh!

You need to be certain anything you do to these stairs maintains the exact same rise to meet code. Typically once you start reworking stairs if they did not meet code prior and were grandfathered, all bets are off and they must now be brought up to current code for safety reasons.

Mmmm, don't you just love high quality home construction? :(

If this were my house, I'd do as Stax suggests - put down nice new good quality padding and carpet. Then I'd walk away whistling and looking innocent.

Maybe I missed something but why not just by prefabbed treads and risers? Look online or even the box stores. Adding a layer on top will not throw off any ration between riser/tread as long as you do all of them.

As far as sound deadening there would be no foul in using a underlayment meant for floating floors as you are essentially doing the exact thing.

You can even buy the treads pre finished online.

"Adding a layer on top will not throw off any ration between riser/tread as long as you do all of them", and also redo the upper and lower flooring....

HI -- I agree with re-capping the stairs . It will look better rather than cheaping out ..we have been there and it comes back on you . You could possibly add a thin rubber sheet under ??? the cap. The same stuff they put under wood and vinyl flooring . But what is under the stairs ? ...if you can get to the underside perhaps you can add some sound barrier material there or cork ...something .

SJ McCarthy brings up some very good points. I'd use my money on a nice quality durable carpet and call it a day. You can even pay a decorator to select something you like, and that she knows will wear well and appeal to buyers in the future. There are some wonderful polypropylene carpets that wear like iron, clean well, and look fabulous. Couristan makes some great ones.

I appreciate all the feedback. Carpeting isn’t why we want anymore. Just isn’t the look we want, and I’ve slipped down it as has my daughter. Rather have nice wood and a runner...

SJ, I appreciate what you’ve shared. Looking at the current codes - 2012 International - I feel like I’m meeting the tolerances of the code if I follow what you’ve noted. The current treads are 1.5” thick and 10” deep - common grade at best. the staircase is uniformly 39 3/4” wide with three stringers (assumes based on the nailing patterns. What’s confusing to me is that if I replace these treads with new fabricated stair treads that match measurement but are of better quality, why wouldn’t it meet code so long as I’m within the 3/8” tolerances?

If I just replace with new 1 1/2 treads and new carpet, how does that meet code and the exposed wood not meet code?

I can install an 11” without the need to bullnose or I can install an 11” and bullnose with a router, right?

I’m not trying to argue or dismiss what anyone is saying, just trying to make the best decision here. Seems like I need to double check the measurements on all the stairs to see if they match current codes. I bought to house in 2014, so I guess I didn’t think about grandfathering. The carpet I pulled is certainly not original to the house...

Thanks for any additional thoughts or feedback!

The two things people forget about (DIYers and GC not familiar with stairs) when dealing with stairs are the floors at the BOTTOM of the stairs and at the TOP of the stairs.

The riser heights must also match at those two critical points. If you go 'naked' with the stair treads, how does that work out with the flooring UPSTAIRS? And what are the floors at the bottom of the stairs?

When it comes to stairs, it is best to save them until LAST. Getting the flooring at the top of the stairs in (not just an 'idea' of what you want, but the actual product) will set the 'riser height' for all the stairs. And the same goes for the flooring at the BOTTOM of the stairs.

That's why this gets immensely complicated very, very quickly.

When was the house built? Where was the carpet (other than on the stairs)? What is the PERMANENT flooring at the top of the stairs? What is the PERMANENT flooring at the base of the stairs?

SJ, you’re right. Didn’t take that into account, but the floors downstairs are tile and are unlikely to be replaced. The upstairs is the same carpet removed from the stairs. I left the carpet on the top step since we aren’t replacing the carpet upstairs at this point. When it comes time, we’ll likely do flooring.

The house was built in 1992, and we purchased it from the second owners in 2014.

Today we went to Lowe’s and I bought a $10 1” pine stair tread just to muddle with. We also looked at the oak retro treads they carry. At this point I’m leaning towards simply doing the oak retro treads. That way I’m not dealing with measurement issues and code tolerances since I’m just flying down the same thing on each original tread. It’ll cost about double what I wanted to spend, but I’ll just stretch the project to get it done and put off a new vanity in our half bath...

You could take a layered approach. Strip everything back to the stringers and cut risers & treads out of 1/2-5/8-3/4" plywood. Treads flush with the riser, no overhang. Glue & screw to eliminate squeaks. (Plywood thickness + 1" thick oak tread = actual thickness of the 2x10's. 2x lumber used to be 1 3/4", then 1 5/8" and now, a lot of it is only 1 1/2". Just depends on how old your house it.)

Then proceed to cover all of this up with new hardwood treads and risers (you can cheap out here and use painted MDF for the risers.) The finish risers will cover up the cut edge of the plywood tread.

If you have some scrap plywood laying around, here will be a good place to use some of it up.

New unfinished red oak treads can be had from Menard's, Lowe's, HD for around $25 each.

Oh, any you'll want one of these if you don't already have one:

Stair Template Tool

There are less expensive versions & it probably would be super difficult to cobble together something in your workshop that would serve.

The OP's stated objective was to quiet bare wood stairs. The only way I know of to do that effectively is to carpet them.

Entirely apart from code considerations, which (I'm sticking my neck out here) will probably never cause you any grief as long as the revised stairs are "close enough," henceforth your teenager will have a lot more trouble sneaking upstairs to bed without waking you when he or she tiptoes in after curfew. That's a good thing, right?

We found the same thing when we removed the carpet from the 1997 house. Went with oak retreads which we stained to match existing wood flooring downstairs and white risers. Both the retreads and risers can be cut to size. There is a trick to it and there is a tool that allows you to cut the treads and risers so they are nice and snug. The walls may look straight but they aren’t and this tool lets you cut at the slight angle you’ll need.

As for noise, well, that kinda happens without the carpet. I’ve put non skid pads on each step for safety and my clumsy dog. I’ve got a small landing with two steps up so I put flooring on that and in a small area that turns at the top of the stairs, the rest is carpeted.

Good luck. One more thing, if you go this route, make sure you mark the left and right on the tread. If it has a lip you’ll need to cut them upside down.

Here's a DIY Solution:

This Old House