Indoor Stair Treads

There are more choices for indoor stair treads than outdoor ones, because basically any that can be used outdoors can also be used inside.

Of course there are some designed for outdoor use that make little sense indoors, for example heated rubber stair treads designed to melt snow and ice.

We must distinguish between structural treads, which provide the structural strength for stair traffic, and non structural stair treads, often used for non slip or decorative properties and placed on top of structural treads

Structural indoor stair treads are often built out of construction grade lumber for example. Most in my house are. They can also be made of other materials such as aluminum, cast iron, and other metal alloys and commonly are in industrial and commercial settings. For example, American Safety Tread manufactures several varieties of structural metal stairs.

They can also be poured concrete, steel pan concrete filled, terrazo and other materials. One beautiful staircase I encountered in Bali was made of bamboo and was structurally very sound and breathtakingly beautiful, especially in context.

Some structural stair treads remain as is; they are not covered with anything. My cellar stairs, made of construction grade lumber, and my bulkhead steps, made of poured concrete, for example have nothing on top. Many steel structural treads have built in abrasive particles or texture for non slip qualities as well.

Some will have a non structural stair tread placed on them. This is for several reasons, including non slip qualities, sound deadening, to protect the underlying stair treads, renovation, and for aesthetic reasons.

These non structural treads may be made of hardwood, used for its beauty. They may also be rubber, vinyl, aluminum, carpet, rugs, or just about anything else.

Some examples follow:

My master staircase is made of construction grade lumber. It's relatively cheap and ideal for the job. It is covered with hardwood stair treads for their beauty. On top of the hardwood is a carpet runner which exposes the beautiful wood the sides on the stairs, but protects the hardwood from wear and tear, deadening the sounds of our children and dog running up and down the stairs, looks beautiful (thanks wife for choosing it), and provides safety via a non slip surface.

At the family summer house the cellar stairs are covered in inexpensive rubber stair treads from the local hardware store. They were trivial to install and no one has slipped since we installed them. My father took a nearly nasty slip on these stairs about 30 years ago before we installed them.

In my office, the stairs are built of construction grade lumber. They are entirely covered with a commercial carpeting for appearance and safety, and be cause it's very cost effective.

In summary, there are two types of treads, structural or weight bearing treads, and non structural or non weight bearing treads. Structural indoor stair treads can be made of almost any material like wood, steel, or concrete. They are often covered by non structural treads for many reasons including safety, and these non structural treads are often made of rubber, vinyl, carpet and a great number of other materials.