Hardwood Stairs: Replacing Carpet with New Stair Treads and Risers

Replacing stair carpet with wood is one of the most popular updates in Ottawa homes. It is easier to clean and ties the stairs to new hardwood on the main floor. It is also where the details show most. New stair treads have to fit each step exactly, the nosings have to be solid, and the step heights have to stay even. This guide explains what is usually under the carpet, the ways to get hardwood stairs, and how the work is planned and done.

What is under the carpet on most stairs

Most people hope to find oak under their stair carpet. Sometimes they do, especially in older homes where carpet was added later. In many newer houses, though, the stairs were built to be carpeted from the start. The treads are often construction-grade lumber, such as spruce or pine, or plywood or particleboard with a rounded front edge. The risers are often plywood or OSB. That wood is strong enough to walk on, but it is soft, knotty, patched and full of staple holes. It was never meant to be finished.

Carpeted stairs also hide tack strips along each tread and riser, dozens of staples at every nosing, and gaps at the walls. The nosing itself is often a thick, rounded overhang that suits carpet but looks bulky in wood.

The best way to know is to look. Lift the carpet at the top or bottom step, or at a return on an open side, and see what the tread is made of. Check a few steps, because builders sometimes mixed materials. What you find decides which of the options below makes sense.

Three ways to get hardwood stairs

There are three common routes from carpet to wood. With full tread and riser replacement, the old treads and risers come out and new hardwood goes in on the original stringers. With cap-and-riser, the old treads stay, their nosing is cut back, and new hardwood treads are glued and fastened on top. Refinishing sands and recoats existing oak treads, and only works when the wood is worth showing. Each is explained below.

Vinyl plank and laminate are a fourth option, with matching stair nosings on each step. That method is covered in our guide to stair nosing and vinyl or laminate on stairs, so it isn't repeated here.

Full stair tread and riser replacement

Full replacement gives a staircase that is hardwood through and through. The old carpet, pad, tack strip and staples come off first. Then each tread and riser is removed from the stringers, the sloped framing members that carry the stairs. On many builder stairs, the treads are glued and nailed or screwed down, so removal takes patience. The stringers are checked for splits, loose fastening and level as each step opens up.

New hardwood treads are cut to fit each step, because no two steps on a real staircase are quite the same. The walls are rarely parallel, and the step depths vary slightly. Each tread is measured, often with a stair tread template, and cut to its own length and angle. It is then glued to the stringers with construction adhesive and fastened, with the fastener holes plugged or filled to match. Gluing the full length of each tread is what keeps a hardwood stair from squeaking later.

Full replacement is not always practical. Some stairs have housed stringers, where the treads sit in grooves routed into the side boards, with wedges driven in underneath. Others are closed between finished walls, with drywall or trim tight to every tread. Pulling those treads out can damage the walls or the stringers. In those cases, cap-and-riser is usually the better way.

When the new treads are the same thickness as the old ones, the rise of each step stays the same, a real advantage when the floors at both ends aren't changing.

Cap-and-riser over existing treads

Cap-and-riser is the most common way to convert a carpeted staircase in a finished home. It leaves the structure alone and builds the new stair on top of it.

The key step is cutting back the old nosing. Carpet-grade treads usually overhang the riser below by a rounded lip. That lip is cut off flush with the face of the riser, so the old tread becomes a flat, square platform. The new cap has its own nosing, and it overhangs the new riser cover the way a finished tread should. If the old nosing stays on, the new tread sits too far forward and the overhang becomes too deep, which is both unsightly and unsafe.

Every step is then checked for squeaks and movement. Loose treads are screwed down to the stringers before any cap goes on, because a cap glued over a squeaking tread will still squeak. The old tread surface is scraped clean of glue and pad residue, so the adhesive bonds to the wood.

The riser cover goes on first in most methods, so the back of the new tread hides its top edge. The cap is then bedded in construction adhesive and fastened, with the holes filled. Follow the cap maker's instructions for adhesive, fasteners and gaps. The result looks like a solid hardwood stair from every angle that people normally see.

The trade-off is thickness. Every cap adds its own thickness to every tread. The middle steps stay equal to each other, but the first and last steps change. The section on rise and run below explains why that matters and how it is handled.

Refinishing existing oak treads

If the carpet hides solid oak treads, refinishing can be the simplest route. Older homes, and some newer homes with an oak staircase that was carpeted later, may have treads worth saving. Refinishing means removing every staple and tack strip, filling the holes, sanding the treads back to bare wood, and then staining and coating them.

Know the limits. Tack strip nails leave rows of holes along each tread and riser, and filler rarely matches a natural finish. Glue and paint stains can go deep. Risers are often paint-grade wood, so they are usually painted.

Sanding and refinishing is specialist work done by a hardwood refinishing company. Agora doesn't sand or refinish floors or stairs. We install new treads, risers and nosings, either as full replacement or over existing stairs. If your oak treads are in good condition, refinishing may be all you need. If they are worn, patched or construction grade, new treads usually give the better result for the money.

Stair treads, nosings and returns

Hardwood stair treads are sold as solid boards with the nosing shaped into the front edge, usually a rounded bullnose. Unlike a floor, there is no separate nosing piece on a solid tread. Red oak and white oak are the most common species, and maple, hickory and other woods are available. If you are choosing between oaks, our guide to white oak flooring explains how they differ in grain and colour.

Treads come prefinished or unfinished. Prefinished treads have a factory finish, so the stairs can be used as soon as the adhesive allows. Unfinished treads are stained and coated on site after installation, which gives more control over colour but adds days of drying and ventilation. Some hardwood flooring collections offer matching prefinished treads and stair nosings, which is the easiest way to match a new floor.

An open-sided staircase needs returns. Where the end of a tread is exposed, a return is a short piece mitred to the tread so the nosing profile wraps around the end. Done well, the return looks like part of the same board. Each return is cut by hand for its step, which is one reason open stairs take longer.

Where the stairs meet a floor, the edge gets a landing nosing or stair nose that matches the treads. At the top of the stairs, it finishes the upper floor's edge and covers its expansion space. On a mid-flight landing, it finishes the landing floor. The landing itself is usually installed like a small room of hardwood, with the same care for gaps and fastening; see how to install hardwood flooring.

Matching hardwood stairs to the floor

Most people want the stairs to match the hardwood around them. That is easiest when the floor and the treads come from the same maker, in the same species, colour and sheen. Even then, solid treads and engineered floor boards can look slightly different, because a tread shows more grain on its wide, thick face. Ask to see a tread sample next to the floor before ordering.

If the floor already exists, matching is harder. Wood darkens or ambers with age and light, and stains vary from batch to batch. A common approach is to choose a deliberate contrast instead: treads that suit the floor without trying to copy it. Another popular look is stained treads with white painted risers, which hides scuffs less well but brightens a dark stairwell.

If the main floor and stairs are both being redone, install them together, from one supplier. Our guide to engineered vs solid hardwood covers the floor around the stairs.

Keeping hardwood stairs even: rise and run

The most important rule on any staircase is that the steps are uniform. The Ontario Building Code limits how much the rise and run may vary within a flight, and the reason is simple. After the first step or two, people stop looking at their feet. One step that is taller or shorter than the rest is a classic trip hazard.

New hardwood can upset that balance. Think of it in three parts.

The middle steps. When every tread gets the same cap, they all rise by the same amount. The steps between them stay equal.

The bottom step. The lower floor doesn't move unless it is also being redone. If every tread is raised by the cap's thickness, the first step becomes taller by that amount. A new, thicker floor at the bottom can bring it back.

The top step. The upper floor stays where it is, but the tread below it is now higher. The last step becomes shorter, unless the upper floor is raised by the same amount, for example with new hardwood on top of the old subfloor.

That is why stair work is planned with the floors at both ends. The installer measures each riser before ordering, adds up the build-up of the caps and of any new floors, and checks the first and last steps against the rest. Full tread replacement avoids most of this when the new treads match the old thickness. If a staircase is being rebuilt or its structure changed, check with the City of Ottawa whether a building permit is needed. Our stair nosing guide explains the same rule for vinyl and laminate stairs.

Railings, balusters and skirt boards

Open staircases have balusters, the vertical spindles that hold the handrail, and they are often fixed into the treads. Replacing or capping those treads means the balusters come out and go back, or are replaced. Many homeowners take the chance to swap old wood spindles for metal or painted ones.

Railing and baluster work is its own trade, with its own code rules for guards. Where the railing needs work, a stair and railing company usually does that part, and the flooring installer coordinates around it. Ask early, because it changes the order of work.

On the wall side, a skirt board usually runs along the stairs. New treads are scribed tight to it, so no gap shows. Where the old skirt is damaged or doesn't suit the new stairs, it is replaced, or a new skirt is fitted over it. Gaps at the walls that carpet used to hide can be closed with a slim trim. Our baseboards and trim work covers those finishing pieces.

How hardwood stairs are installed

The exact method depends on the treads, the stair structure and the maker's instructions. A typical sequence looks like this:

1. Remove the carpet. Pull the carpet, pad and tack strips, and every staple.
2. Inspect and fix the structure. Screw loose treads down to the stringers and fix squeaks while the stairs are open.
3. Cut back the nosings for cap-and-riser, or remove the old treads for full replacement.
4. Measure each step. Template every tread and riser, because each one is slightly different.
5. Install from the bottom up. Fit each riser, then its tread, bedded in adhesive and fastened.
6. Fit returns and the landing nosing where the stair is open or meets a floor.
7. Fill and finish. Plug or fill fastener holes, add any trim at the walls, and clean off adhesive.

Adhesive needs time to set, so the stairs are out of use for part of the job. If the only bedrooms are upstairs, ask how the work will be staged. Plan for dust from cutting and for tools on the steps. Keep children and pets away until the job is done. Our checklist for preparing for a flooring installation covers clearing the space.

Stairs are hard to do well as a DIY project. Each step is a small carpentry job, every cut shows, and a loose nosing is a fall risk.

Safety, finish and comfort

Hardwood stairs are harder and more slippery than carpet, especially in socks. A matte or satin finish gives more grip than a gloss. Some people add a carpet runner down the middle, with wood showing at the sides. That gives grip and quiet while keeping the wood look; our guide to the best carpet for stairs covers runners.

Good lighting and a solid handrail matter too.

Wood on stairs moves with the seasons too, so small winter gaps at returns are normal within limits; see hardwood floors in an Ottawa winter.

What drives the cost of hardwood stairs

Stairs are priced per step, not per square foot, because every tread and riser is measured, cut and fitted by hand. The main cost drivers are the number of steps, the route you choose, the tread species and whether it is prefinished, and the shape of the staircase. Open sides, winders, landings, carpet removal, repairs and railing work all add time.

For typical per-step ranges in Ottawa, see our flooring cost page. For the floors around the stairs, see hardwood floor installation cost in Ottawa. Agora installs hardwood treads and risers, new treads over existing stairs, and the floors at both ends, planned together so every step stays even. Our stair installation page shows what we do.

Frequently asked questions