Wondering if any of these ideas would work

We are in a somewhat similar situation except that we are the ones choosing the materials. We got estimates on redoing the stairway to decent looking wood treads because what is under the old carpeting wasn't in any way suitable to be exposed as-is, installing the matching LVP (my least favorite look of all the options) and re-carpeting. After comparing the costs, it was a no-brainer! We'll be carpeting the stairs and having LVP on both the main level and second floor.

On another note, a friend just bought a brand new, single story, 10' ceiling house that has laminate floors throughout. She is looking for lots of rugs because of the echoes.

I personally like carpet in bedrooms --- so cozy and quiet. but if you absolutely hate it, I understand. many people do. (BTW: that carpet might be able to be donated if it's new enough. check with habitat for humanity.)

for the stairs though: vinyl is so slippery! I suggest getting a close vinyl match for upstairs, and keep the carpet on the stairs. or new carpet on the stairs if you hate the style chosen. it will act as a natural transition and nobody will notice the slight difference between the two floors.

as for noise: just be sure to get a really good quality underlayment.

My wife intends to put a carpet runner on the stairs, so fortunately this wont be a problem. I will definitely look to see if it can be donated. It is brand new (aside from a few showings and contractors that have walked on it).

How do you know that the stairs themselves are in good enough shape to just go with a runner? Are the risers and treads good quality wood rather than just cheap something installed to put carpet over?

Maybe I'm missing something, but can't we just remove the carpet and slap down vinyl plank and stair risers? Does it matter what's under there right now?

well if you can't find the right nosing, then "slapping down" vinyl plank might wind up looking kind of messy.

I just re-read your original post. since you are ok with white risers, what about painting all sides of the stairs white and then adding a runner? since you said the vinyl is light grey, that might look pretty good and would be an easy solution. it would help us if we could see photos of the stairs and the vinyl used on the 1st floor.

You don’t have a lot of stairs showing and you can’t see the upstairs from the downstairs so that’s good news for you. I would do patterned carpet on the stairs, maybe a dark gray, it’s modern and easy to walk on. We did a remodel and kept the stairs carpeted and did 2 different floorings (tile downstairs and vinyl upstairs) and like your setup, you can’t see the upstairs from the downstairs so it all worked out. We had issues with putting vinyl on our stairs as well and it was very expensive to fix. We liked the carpet better anyway, much easier and quieter and our senior doggy can get up the stairs.

When you say runner, it implies that there is a hard surface (vinyl or wood) on each side of the runner (like photo #1 above).

Is your wife planning to put a carpet runner over the vinyl stairs? How are you going to deal with the fact that you can't find any of the nosing that matches?

Or, are you planning to pull the current carpet off and then put a runner down the middle of wood stairs? In this situation you need to have good quality wood stairs and risers.

In photo #2 only the treads are covered in carpet. If this is what she wants to do, and paint the risers, then you need risers that are more than just some junk plywood or other materials that are typically put under stairs that have always been carpeted.

I apologize for not being that clear. We definitely intend to put something down on the steps. I'm assuming it's just plywood underneath the carpet, so we would either put a darker gray vinyl or wood. I assume wood might be the better option as we could find pieces that don't require a stair nose. This is all new to me, and we are having a friend do the install, so nobody is walking us through the process as they would in a more professional setting.

Elephant in the Room: "...we are having a friend do the install..."

This is fine with flooring (as in hallways, bedrooms, etc) but not a great idea with stairs. As everyone has said (and I will repeat myself) stairs are EXPENSIVE because they deal with CODE. A 'friend' will have to be willing to take ALL LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY should the product that s/he applies cause A. injury or B. fail code. Most friends aren't that excited to be on the hook for 'helping out'.

Carpets HIDE the WORST MATERIALS in the building world. By worst I mean CHEAP and POORLY made. That NORMALLY includes OSB. OSB can be the cheapest of the cheap. It is made up of 'chips' of wood glued together with a waxy substance. The very make up of OSB PREVENTS stuff from being GLUED to the surface.

Enter: Vinyl stair covering. Vinyl planks/nosing MUST BE GLUED to the stair's substrate. Imagine the substrate as the WORST OSB possible. Stairs need to be strong and meet minimum code. Builders LOVE to use the CHEAPEST MATERIALS on stairs because stairs are INHERENTLY expensive. So....save $300 on the stairs and you have $300 in your pocket (the GC/Builder).

So long as stairs are DESIGNED to be carpeted the architect and builder have NO INCENTIVE to make it out of anything other than OSB.

I know this is all new to you. So I will spell this out for you: your assumption about plywood (plywood is EXPENSIVE = saved for places where it is NEEDED) is, sadly, a problem. A plywood stair would be AWESOME for your situation. But I would bet dollars to doughnuts you have OSB.

And the subfloor UPSTAIRS is probably going to be OSB as well (see discussion about costs of plywood). OSB does VERY WELL under carpet. Carpet can cover hills and valleys and sagging sections of the subfloor (OSB does ALL of those things and MORE).

As soon as you want to put down a rigid floor (where carpet used to be) you MUST ASSUME a LOT of patch/repair. Again, this is where the COST of the repair comes in. I have told my clients to BUDGET $2-$4/sf worth of SUBFLOOR REPAIR when removing carpet. Yes. That is the same price as the vinyl planks themselves. The subfloor repair can DOUBLE the cost of your project.

Now ask your friend if s/he is GOING to do the 8-16 hours worth of work to PROPERLY prepare the subfloor upstairs. This is when using a friend gets tricky. So long as you are paying them FULL MARKET VALUE for their labour/skills, your friendship will remain solid. If they are doing this for beer and pizza, then things are going to get VERY tense.

I know this is new to you, so be PREPARED for MUCH BIGGER project costs than you originally anticipated. If you have to repair the upstairs subfloor AND REBUILD (remove the OSB and then lay down NEW PLYWOOD on) the stairs you are in for a MASSIVE bill. Rebuilding stairs is worth the same price of the vinyl AND the cost of labour to repair the upstairs subfloor. It runs in the THOUSANDS of dollars.

Just so you know.

To clarify, this friend has a contracting business with partners who have been in the remodeling business for a handful of years. We are signing a formal contract for the work (and they are insured) and we will be paying for the work. But these are all good points and I will make sure that he comes over first to help us pull back to the carpet to check on the material of the steps. If the stairs need to be redone before even putting a single piece of vinyl down, that would dramatically increase our cost and potentially have us abort the project.

Edit: We did a video walk through on the project and provided measurements that we took, but I'm now seeing it would be much better to have him come over, retake his own measurements and make sure that the scope is exactly as we intended, so there are no surprises. Obviously any other contractor would have wanted to do a walk through.

Sam...I like to hear about the contract etc. That tells me things are going in the right direction. I like the fact that you are taking personal interest in the 'how's and the why's'. That's awesome.

Please ask if they have access to a Finishing Carpenter. That's where I like to see General Contractors showing their level of accountability. The GC's most people know are 'good' but are still trying to make a living. The Finishing Carpenter is VERY expensive for a GC to bring in. They are reserved for only the MOST EXPENSIVE part of the build. Many GC's do NOT have a Finishing Carpenter in their 'guys to call book' simply because they are so expensive.

Finishing Carpenters deal with stairs. They must know the 15+ codes that go with touching a stair. As soon as a stair is renovated to handle a NEW material (ie. carpet to vinyl) the whole stair must be brought up to current code (most times...it depends on your state/province).

This can be discussed once the stair subfloor has been revealed and the vinyl application has been given the 'go ahead'. But please make sure the RIGHT professional is being used on the stairs. Most guys with hammers cannot handle stairs - and it shows.

I wish you luck on your project. It sounds like you are moving in the right direction. Just remember: stairs = code = Finishing Carpenter.

Thanks, I will definitely bring this up!