Maple Stair Treads

I’ve always loved the look of hardwood stairs even years ago when the trend was to cover them from wall to wall with carpet.

I spent an enormous amount of hours ripping up carpet from two staircases and refinishing the hardwood which was probably over 100 years old and needed some tender, loving, care at my wife’s house when we were first married. I am not handy around the house so this took me much longer than it probably would have but was absolutely worth. The maple stair treads simply radiated beauty!

These days construction techniques are often different, with the stairs being constructed of cheaper construction grade materials, and then the treads and risers (respectively the horizontal and vertical parts of the stairs) are covered with more expensive hardwoods, but the effect is the same. Many prefer exotic hardwoods like Brazilian Cherry and Mahogany and many woods I haven’t even heard of, but I have a fondness for native hardwoods like maple and oak for stairs.

There are multiple types of maple, including the common Hard Maple, the similar Soft Maple which is 25 percent less hard, and Pacific Coast Maple which costs about half as much as Hard Maple. There are actually about 125 species of Maple, most native to Asia, but we will concentrate on Hard Maple here as it’s most commonly used for stairs and flooring.

Hard maple, also known as Sugar Maple or Black Maple, is commonly used for flooring including stair treads and risers. It’s readily available and grows in the Eastern US including the Mid Atlantic States and Lake States, and averages over 100 feet tall. It’s the state tree of Vermont, New York, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. It’s also used for many other purposes including making cutting boards, furniture, kitchen cabinets, mill work and much more. Historically it was used in the US by Native Americans for spears, for the heels of women’s shoes, and its ashes were used to make soap. And yes, its sap is boiled down to make Maple Syrup. And in Southeastern Canada and New England, where I am, it’s one of the most beautiful fall trees with multicolored bright leaves which are spectacular. They love the multi colored fall leaves in Korea and Japan too!

I consider it an extremely attractive wood, as obviously do many other people. It has a fine uniform texture generally with a reddish brown color, and can be straight grained or have curly patterns. The pieces with curly patterns are called by a wide variety of names such as Flame Maple, Quilt Maple, Birdseye Maple and more. For stair treads, it’s often used as is with merely a clear protective finish, my favorite, or is stained one of many colors. It’s often described as having a light, airy, and contemporary look.