Hardwood Stair Treads

I'll admit it, I just love the look of wood, wood of all types. Yesterday I was in a restaurant with big exposed wood beams, and today I'm in a beach house where the wooden ceiling is exposed and just gorgeous.

I have a particular affinity for hardwoods, and our master staircase at home shows a beautiful hardwood stair treads surface of a wonderful oak.

I remember when I was young and living with my parents, and painting and otherwise covering beautiful hardwoods became the fashion rage. I thought all the adults were nuts as they painted things like cherry cabinets and my parents own antique wooden bookcases with intricate carved patterns, diminishing their beauty. Also hardwood floors and stair cases were covered in wall to wall carpeting, the new "in thing" apparently. Even as a kid, I thought this was silly, and sure enough fashion trends have reversed and most people appreciate the natural beauty of woods.

When I got married, one of my first acts as a new home owner was to strip the entirely OK carpeting from the floor and stairs and refinish the hardwood floors and stairs. It was a lot of work as they probably hadn’t been refinished in a good hundred years but well worth it!

When hardwood is used for stairs, due to the expense, the structural components of the stairs are usually made with construction grade material. Construction grade materials, for example spruce or pine and plywood, is strong and perfectly suited for the job but relatively unattractive. The stairs can then be covered by thinner and less expensive pieces of hardwood.

Hardwood stair treads cover the part you step on, and the vertical area between stairs is usually covered by a piece of wood known as a “riser” although sometimes these may be left out to create an open air effect.

Stairs need to be built with their finish in mind as both common sense and local building codes usually specify stair dimensions to help prevent stumbling or tripping on stairs. A common thickness for hardwood stair treads is one inch and staircases are often built with these in mind. You can also find thicker wooden stair treads, for example one and half and two inch stair treads. If a set of stair is being refinished or perhaps they were built for carpeting originally, thinner “replacement stair treads” are used, often a half an inch in thickness.

Winder hardwood treads for where a staircase changes direction are also available in several sizes or may be cut to order.

Many people cover the center of their stairs with a carpet runner or other carpeting, leaving the edges of their hardwood visible. One possible approach for hardwood loving people on a budget is to install small hardwood “false treads” which only cover the area of the stair on each side of the carpet.

Briefly we’ll mention some of the popular woods used for stair treads, which could be a long article and photo essay in itself! These include oak, cherry, Brazilian cherry, hickory, black walnut, Brazilian walnut, cypress, bloodwood, cumaru, maple, and mahogany. Hardwood stair treads are available made of all of these and many more too. It’s matter of personal preference, the rest of your décor, and of course budget.