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Design Dilemma
deh08

Hardwood or carpet stairs?

12 years ago
In the midst of our tri-level remodel, I can't decide... Should we go with carpeted stairs or hard wood? One main floor option is hand scraped laminate with carpet up the stairs to the bedroom where carpet will be the entire upper floor, then carpet will also go down the stairs from the main floor to the basement rec room and guest space (this will be some kind of floating floor). The alternative is real hardwoods for our main floor and stairs both up and down and throughout the hallway. Each bedroom would then have carpet. We do have 4 kids (ages 5-13) and a golden retriever. I personally do not care for how carpet looks on stairs but am considering it for noise and also slip precautions. Any advice would be appreciated!
Featured Answer
  • 12 years ago
    we have been having the same discussion in our house, and while we both love the look of clean wood treads, we went with fully carpeted for noise suppression, safety and an old dog (of course it could be said that the owners are getting to be old dogs as well..)

    Comments (20)

    • 12 years ago
      A photo of the stairway... Amidst the chaos of the remodel
    • 12 years ago
      Deh08, I would prefer carpet for the very reasons you mentioned - noise reduction and safety. And not just the humans - dogs don't especially like running up and down hardwood or laminate stairs because they have less traction. If you decide on carpet, look at Stainmaster carpet made with .Anso nylon by Shaw Floors (or something similar). It's tough and very stain resistant. We had this type of carpet on our stairs and bedroom floors in our last home and it survived many incidents of the dog barfing on it - nothing ever soaked in. The pattern itself emulated the look of sisal, which looked quite modern - not "carpety".

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    • PRO
      12 years ago
      Hardwood stairs with a carpet runner
      deh08 thanked Linda
    • PRO
      12 years ago
      last modified: 12 years ago
      Wood staircase would be my vote.

      Private Party · More Info
    • 12 years ago
      As the mother of a child who suffered a fractured skull after falling down wood stairs, I would definitely go with carpet or at least wood with a carpet runner. I even have a friend whose husband sleep walked down their wood basement stairs and fell and was pretty injured. They wished they had carpet then. :)
    • 12 years ago
      We removed our beautiful carpet runner years ago because between the kids, dogs, and debris coming in the front door onto these stairs.... I was vacuuming every single day! Much easier to keep clean!.... 4 kids ( now grown-ups) several dogs over the years...no falls. Perhaps if the stairs were located in the interior of the house it would be a different story.
    • 12 years ago
      I hate vacuuming carpeted stairs, and am so glad to be in my first one-story house!
      Some treads might help with the safety aspect. Our previous hardwood stairs had treads, and with four kids and a dog, we didn't have any incidents. I can't speak to the noise issue, as I can't say I ever noticed hardwood or carpeted stairs being more or less noisy. Perhaps I got used to it. Perhaps it was four children. Hard to say. ;)
    • PRO
      12 years ago
      Over time, wood can be at issue for refinishing, especially with dogs. I vote for wood step skirts with center carpet or hardwood with a carpet runner, as does Linda.
    • PRO
      12 years ago
      If you choose hardwood and don't use a runner, have the installer use a nonslip finish on the stairs. Bona has one in their Traffic series of floor finishes...not cheap at $100+/gallon, but the higher end two-part finishes are much more durable than the single component poly products
    • 12 years ago
      Thank you everyone for your input! :)
    • 12 years ago
      last modified: 12 years ago
      I had to make this same decision a few years back. I wanted wood but was afraid of slipping. I seem to remember my research indicated that carpeting stairs did not, in fact, reduce injuries and didn't make falls less likely. Anyway, we have two flights of winder style wood stairs so something convinced me wood wasn't a safety no no. I don't find them to be slippery and love the look. Our first home also had wood stairs; then we built a home with carpeted stairs to the basement. We have dogs and the vacuuming was awful! (Although the dogs blamed the cat).
    • 12 years ago
      As a paramedic, I've seen equal amount of falls on each with not a lot of variance in injuries. I can however say that carrying someone down wood stairs is A LOT easier than carrying someone on carpeted stairs.

      If you do choose to go with carpet on your stairs, stay away from plush carpets with thick underlay. They feel nice on the feet but are very difficult to maintain traction on. it's also difficult to blindly sense where the edge of the tread is without looking down - which is likely to cause a fall if carrying a load of laundry etc.

      My 2 pennies - or nickels if you're in Canada where there isn't any more pennies.
    • 12 years ago
      last modified: 12 years ago
      We have kept the carpet on our stairs, despite preferring the lovely wood underneath, only because our two dogs bound up and down at top speed. The carpet gives them a little more traction and gives us a bit of a sound buffer.
    • 8 years ago

      I've recently placed laminate flooring in upstairs bedrooms and now want to replace carpet in bonus room. I don't know if I should continue with laminate or place a new low VOC carpet. Problem comes with what to do with the stairs because we will be putting hard wood on main floor that is different than upstairs laminate. Can I have laminate upstairs, hardwood main floor and carpet on stairs? Or do I just do bonus room and stairs in carpet? I don't want the final result to look improper. I've been bouncing between ideas for months. If someone could advise me with what look would be best.

    • 8 years ago
      Jade.. do put some sort of lo or no nap carpet on the stairs as the Medic/EMT earlier suggested. Even if you do a laminate on the face of the stairs or match the lower floor covering on the face of the stairs, try to place a fixed piece of maybe a salvaged oriental rug or check for creative ideas on line for volume control LoL. Any piece of carpet, fabric , or low nap rug will help the echo in the stairway ..which can be another unique special area that makes it your home!
    • 8 years ago
      I had carpeted stairs at my last house. The house we just built, I did wood. I hated the maintenance on carpeted stairs, vacuuming was a grueling chore for three flights. I also find that slipping was easier on the carpeted stairs, which I did. I find no issue with noise on the wooden stairs at all. I would certainly vote for wood.
    • 8 years ago

      Would you believe this was in 2013? And we don't get the option to retreat(erase??) Whatz up with that. ?? 2013. Why is this stuff even coming to the surface? It always appears, the OLD stuff if on a mobile device...but it rarely appears on the desktop. And I rarely can FIND it on the desktop, if I go looking unless I get very specific with the title from the mobile device. So sorry. They could just shadow 2013 across the post to let us know!? They have no problem doing that if you find a photo you want to share! LOL

    • 6 years ago

      I’m in the same place trying to decide, but I will tell you I have fallen down the CARPETED stairs! I slipped on the carpet in my socks because we don’t wear shoes in the house. Make your decision based on something other than this. I’ve read that statistically it’s 50/50 slipping or falling down carpeted or wood stairs.

    • 6 years ago
      last modified: 6 years ago

      This is a really old thread, but... I find that my near-accidents usually involved taking a misstep and/or tripping. Carpet could make that threat worse. There's a comment above from an EMT stating that carpet vs hardwoods poses an equal risk. May as well go with wood since it's easier to clean.

      There's a different comment above recommending a Bona anti-slip coating. That sounds like a good idea. My sister's stairs are way more slippery than mine, they scare the heck out of me.

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