Stair Pads

"Stair pads" is a commonly used term which means slightly different things to different people.

First of all, everyone agrees that a stair pad is something placed on individual stairs, much like a stair tread or stair tread rug. In fact these terms are used by some people interchangeably. We spoke to contractors who build stairs, did some online research, and searched retailers catalogs for the following information.

Even companies that advertise using the word “stair pads” don’t agree and often it doesn’t even appear on their Web site or catalog! Here however is what we found. Although people may not agree on the specific definition, the term seems to be used in three very related ways.

1) As mentioned above, some people use stair pad as a synonym for stair tread or stair tread rug. For many people this is the only description that makes any sense, and they may even scratch their head in mild confusion when asked to define it precisely.

2) Sometimes the term is used for small pieces of rug pad designed to go under stair tread rugs. As an example, one manufacturer specifies that safely installing their stair tread rugs requires using both rug padding and carpet tacks. The tacks anchor the tread to the stairs, and the rug padding or "stair pad" stops the stair tread rugs from slipping and pulling against the carpet tacks. They sell their stair tread rugs together with appropriately sized stair pads.

3) Stair pad is also used to describe a small stair tread, perhaps four by twelve inches or similar, often of carpet construction and very often quite small in comparison to the stairs it’s going on. I’ve also seen it used for a small aluminum and other type of stair treads used for non slip purposes. For example, watch this YouTube video on installing stair tread pads:

So, if someone says stair pad now you know roughly what they are talking about, and should be able to determine the exact meaning from context.