Stairs - Hardwood or carpet???

[riley2008]

After the first of the year, we need to do something with our stairs. Currently, they have carpet.

Our intention when we moved into this house 3 years ago, was to replace the carpet with hardwood steps and risers. (The railings also need replacing so that will get done either way. Structurally seem fine, but craftsmanship and installation is poor.)

We've always had carpet, but I love the look of hardwood.

So far we have"

Hardwood pros - cost, cleanliness
Carpet pros - sound, safety(?)

Hardwood cons - sound, slippery, need to be refinished every few years
Carpet cons - cost (would have to replace all upstairs, although still in very good shape), holds dirt and wears faster than other carpet areas


We don't wear shoes upstairs, but we do have a beagle that likes to sleep on the steps.

I don't know of anyone with hardwood stairs, so personal experience would be helpful. I'm not opposed to runners on the stairs either.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Cindy B]

We ripped out our carpet and refinished our stairs. It was time consuming but worth it.

First the carpet was removed. Hubby then took our risers, replaced parts of them and repainted them. We also put in a new handrails, newel and posts as well. ( if you ever think - I won't need algebra in my life after high school- we had to deal with degrees and slope!)

I love the look of the hardwood and we won't need to refinish them every so often. After we initially removed the carpet, we could tell that the steps were originally hardwood and the carpet was relatively new.

The first and time consuming steps were to remove all traces of carpet glue, fibers, staples, etc. We sanded down all the original finish and found beautiful vintage pine. After all the painting was done, we attempted to refinish them ourselves and it didn't work out well.

When we got our hardwood installed we asked the installers if they could refinish the steps and they quoted us a reasonable number - cheaper than new hardware ( which was our next option.)

So the harware refinishers came in and redid the steps. Yes, they sanded down and we have more character in our steps now. They used a finish that brought out the wood and brought some shine.

With the new newell, rail and posts it looks like a brand new staircase. I love the fact that I am using vintage wood, looks natural and makes sense in the house (older Cape Cod).

It isn't slippery at all- and once the steps got finished our dog refused to sleep on the steps anymore. He just didn't like it!

We get comments on the steps all the time- contractors, friends, neighbors.

 

[At World's End]

We have hardwood throughout our house including the stairs. Every member of our family has slipped down those stairs, including our dogs. We also don't wear shoes in the house, but everyone is supposed to wear slippers, mainly to help keep from slipping down the stairs. It really is something to be concerned about. Also, they collect dust faster than any area of the hose. Our stairs constantly look filthy. You will be amazed how much dirt hides in carpets once you get hardwood. And if you think it's easier to keep them clean, you are in for a rude awakening. I spend twice as much time cleaning my wood floors as carpet. You first have to sweep/vacuum, then you have to mop the floor. We use a steam mop. I hate these darn floors! But they have helped DH's allergies so much, which is why we spent a small fortune on them. But we will have to spend another fortune on them when we go to sell because we will have to refinish them.

 

[pixie921]

We have carpeted stairs and I hate vacuuming them, but I'd honestly never considered the potential for slips on hardwood. Our little dog is challenged enough when it comes to the stairs (she often misjudges and plows headfirst into the step above her, poor thing); I can't imagine how she'd handle slipping on wood on top of it. Now you all have me rethinking our plan to get rid of the carpet!

 

[cvjw]

A friend in the neighborhood refinished his stairs to hardwoods, and then proceeded to slip down them not long after they were finished. He messed up his back, and was lucky he didn't break his neck. He slipped from the very top to the bottom - and he was in his 30's with no medical problems. He was just wearing his socks, and lost his footing.

We have the compromise on our stairs - hardwood around the edges and carpet in the middle. We like the look of it, and the carpet matches the upstairs carpet. I used to want all hardwoods on the stairs, but we replaced our banisters to wrought iron, and would have to redo all of that work to change out the stair treads.

 

[eliza61]

We have hardwood throughout our house including the stairs. Every member of our family has slipped down those stairs, including our dogs. We also don't wear shoes in the house, but everyone is supposed to wear slippers, mainly to help keep from slipping down the stairs. It really is something to be concerned about. Also, they collect dust faster than any area of the hose. Our stairs constantly look filthy. You will be amazed how much dirt hides in carpets once you get hardwood. And if you think it's easier to keep them clean, you are in for a rude awakening. I spend twice as much time cleaning my wood floors as carpet. You first have to sweep/vacuum, then you have to mop the floor. We use a steam mop. I hate these darn floors! But they have helped DH's allergies so much, which is why we spent a small fortune on them. But we will have to spend another fortune on them when we go to sell because we will have to refinish them.

Wow I'm the exact opposite. I love my hardwood floors, yes they collect dust but they are so easy to clean. simply sweep. unlike the rugst that hold dirt and are a pain in the you know what to clean.

Stupid us, we put light colored carpet (greys, peaches and light greens) so the stains were horrible. After just 3 years the peach carpet in my bedroom was disgusting and that was just from normal foot traffic (we do wear our shoes upstairs).
I'm currently replacing each room, one by one and the wood floors are 1000 times easier to clean and I have a dog.

I'm putting in hardwood stairs and simply putting a runner down the center.

 

[firstwdw]

All I can say is when we moved I intended to get a runner for our hardwood but did not because I like how hardwood stairs look. Well I slipped and fell on the hardwood stairs in my socks, and 7 months later I am still in physical therapy for some serious injuries from that fall. I'd do carpet or if you do hardwood get a runner installed. Hardwood is just so dangerous and I am careful!

 

[firstwdw]

Oh and the dogs are always slipping and falling as well. Save the money and get carpet. My PT co pays and dr appts and pain from falling down our stairs is way more than it would have cost to put in carpet!

 

[indimom]

We have hard wood. We've also had a slip or two. DS went down so hard he flew out past the end of the stairs and ended up several feet into the kitchen. Scared the pants off DH and I. (He was fine, it's a good thing kids are made of rubber.) They do show the dust fairly quickly (around the edges mostly), but it's not too hard to clean and I prefer it to carpet which just gets sooo worn looking and dingy from all the traffic.

 

[LJSquishy]

Definitely do either carpeted stairs or hardwood stairs with a runner. Exposed hardwood stairs are just too dangerous. Heck, we have slipped even on our carpeted stairs but hardwoods are 1000 times more slippery than carpet if you are wearing socks. We don't wear shoes in the house.

 

[cats mom]

The thing I disliked most when we had a house with hardwood stairs was how darn noisy they were! Honestly you couldn't go up or down quietly even if you tried, and the kids didn't try.

We had a few slips on the stairs as well, luckily no serious injuries though.

 

[sookie]

We have hardwood throughout our house including the stairs. Every member of our family has slipped down those stairs, including our dogs. We also don't wear shoes in the house, but everyone is supposed to wear slippers, mainly to help keep from slipping down the stairs. It really is something to be concerned about. Also, they collect dust faster than any area of the hose. Our stairs constantly look filthy. You will be amazed how much dirt hides in carpets once you get hardwood. And if you think it's easier to keep them clean, you are in for a rude awakening. I spend twice as much time cleaning my wood floors as carpet. You first have to sweep/vacuum, then you have to mop the floor. We use a steam mop. I hate these darn floors! But they have helped DH's allergies so much, which is why we spent a small fortune on them. But we will have to spend another fortune on them when we go to sell because we will have to refinish them.

Think of how much dirt that carpet used to be holding. We have had hard surfaces in two homes and love it.
We have stained / stamped / molded concrete in our current house. We love it. They are beautiful floors - and worth it. Yes, we sweep and mop about every other day, but we have kids with environmental allergies in the house. They have great control now - and having limited carpeting in the house is one aspect of that control. Our previous house, we put down hardwoods - the boards. Loved it. They were beautiful... I loved the sound it made when people walked on them. I let guests used their shoes but we usually took ours off, and they looked new several years in.
If you get hard woods, do not get a "hybrid wood" or whatever they are selling. Get the boards. The real deal. The stuff that can be refinished over and over again.
Be careful what you use on real wood. Steam mopping can harm them, and so can chemicals. We used a very lightly damn mop with apple cider vinegar - if they got too wet, they could buckle. Steam would have really harmed them. They came with very specific instructions, and I paid an arm and a leg for them (which was still a good deal - LOL). So keeping them pristine was very important. Good luck OP!

 

[tianna26]

I live in the same house my mom grew up in We have hardwood everywhere except the living room which has the same carpet from the 60's when my grandparents bought the house. We like the wood better & have never slipped neither have my 2 dogs ecxept once when i used a certian wood cleaner/polisher it was too slippery for my senior arthritic dog so we just stop using it & found something else. Wood is better i u have kids spilling over everything

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I love our hardwood floors, but I do agree with carpeted stairs or hardwood stairs with a carpet runner. Besides being very slippery, hardwood stairs are very loud.

 

[busy mom]

I would agree with previous poster, carpet is the safest option. We previously had hard wood with a carpet runner and it was very difficult to clean...

 

[Lucky St. Louis]

I had beautiful hardwood steps which my dad slipped on. Fortunately he caught himself but it scared me as my daughters were babies and I often carried them at the same time. I immediately called our carpet installer and had them carpeted down he middle with exposed wood on the sides. I don't love the cape look and would love to replace I with a decorative runner. It is safe and IMO easier to clean.

 

[riley2008]

We ripped out our carpet and refinished our stairs. It was time consuming but worth it.

First the carpet was removed. Hubby then took our risers, replaced parts of them and repainted them. We also put in a new handrails, newel and posts as well. ( if you ever think - I won't need algebra in my life after high school- we had to deal with degrees and slope!)

I love the look of the hardwood and we won't need to refinish them every so often. After we initially removed the carpet, we could tell that the steps were originally hardwood and the carpet was relatively new.

The first and time consuming steps were to remove all traces of carpet glue, fibers, staples, etc. We sanded down all the original finish and found beautiful vintage pine. After all the painting was done, we attempted to refinish them ourselves and it didn't work out well.

...

With the new newell, rail and posts it looks like a brand new staircase. I love the fact that I am using vintage wood, looks natural and makes sense in the house (older Cape Cod).

It isn't slippery at all- and once the steps got finished our dog refused to sleep on the steps anymore. He just didn't like it!

We get comments on the steps all the time- contractors, friends, neighbors.

We'll be doing most of the work ourselves. Unfortuantely, there is nothing pretty under our carpets. Each step & riser together will cost about $75 each. I am so hoping that it wouldn't be slippery. Maybe the type of paint...I'll have to do some checking into that.

We have hardwood throughout our house including the stairs. Every member of our family has slipped down those stairs, including our dogs. We also don't wear shoes in the house, but everyone is supposed to wear slippers, mainly to help keep from slipping down the stairs. It really is something to be concerned about. Also, they collect dust faster than any area of the hose. ...But they have helped DH's allergies so much, which is why we spent a small fortune on them. But we will have to spend another fortune on them when we go to sell because we will have to refinish them.

Being slippery is my main concern. I'm not too worried about the dirt - so much easier than having to use the vacuum. (I hate doing that.)

A friend in the neighborhood refinished his stairs to hardwoods, and then proceeded to slip down them not long after they were finished. He messed up his back, and was lucky he didn't break his neck. He slipped from the very top to the bottom - and he was in his 30's with no medical problems. He was just wearing his socks, and lost his footing.

We have the compromise on our stairs - hardwood around the edges and carpet in the middle. We like the look of it, and the carpet matches the upstairs carpet. I used to want all hardwoods on the stairs, but we replaced our banisters to wrought iron, and would have to redo all of that work to change out the stair treads.

Just Googled some pics of this and I like! (Maybe too costly as it would involve all new carpet AND the stair replacement. Thinking DH may say one or the other.) I will definitely see what he thinks though. Thank you for giving me another option to think about.

Oh and the dogs are always slipping and falling as well. Save the money and get carpet. My PT co pays and dr appts and pain from falling down our stairs is way more than it would have cost to put in carpet!

I wouldn't mind if my dog stayed downstairs, but considering costs of potential accidnets is a worry. Thank you for sharing your story.

We have hard wood. We've also had a slip or two. DS went down so hard he flew out past the end of the stairs and ended up several feet into the kitchen. Scared the pants off DH and I. (He was fine, it's a good thing kids are made of rubber.) They do show the dust fairly quickly (around the edges mostly), but it's not too hard to clean and I prefer it to carpet which just gets sooo worn looking and dingy from all the traffic.

Yes, our stair carpet is looking really bad, but the rest is still great - even high traffic areas.

I may have to get some ideas about stair runners. I don't even know where to purchase something like that. More research....

Thank you all.

 

[wgeo]

We had hardwood stairs in our house back when our kids were born. I'm very happy we moved before they learned to walk. I fell while carrying my son, fortunately I was able to keep him safe and actually caught my self after about 4 stairs. We were fine, but the bruises took a very long time to go away. Our dog wasn't such a big fan either, he took more than one long tumble down the stairs when he was a puppy.

On the other hand, they looked great! And I thought they were very easy to keep clean.

 

[amberlynnhawkins]

Don't forget allergies!! My husband & I are about to start building a house, and we're going completely carpet-free because all three of us (my husband, our son, and I) all have HORRIBLE allergies. Carpet STINKS when it comes to controlling allergies.

 

[SettinSail]

We have lived in our house with hardwood stairs for 6 months now and love them! So much cleaner than carpet and much easier to clean. I just frequently sweep them and occasionally damp mop. Only one teenage boy has slipped and he was wearing socks and flying down the stairs. I never thought about them being slippery until then but I made a mental note that day to be careful if I was wearing socks on the stairs!

We swapped out our wooden newel posts for aluminum ones that look like decorative wrought iron when we bought the house and it is a great look!

Good luck with your decision