Question for Hardwood and Carpet Guys.... - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

UpIACrete · 02-19-2007, 10:55 PM

My wife and I are considering buying a house that is entirely hardwood, including the steps. There are 5 or 6 steps to a landing, a 90 turn and 7 or 8 more the rest of the way up. My question is would you recommend a runner? I know how slick they can be when wearing socks and that concerns me with kids and my wife's two right feet.

I am a concrete guy and am not sure I could do it on my own. I saw a show on DIY where the homeowner had some "help" from an expert. How hard are they to do?

turner flooring · 02-20-2007, 10:44 PM

Kids safety first always before money.. if you decide not to install the runner yourself,Just make sure it's done right. It can be safer to have one. Or it could be lose and dangerous 2.
wood stairs,socks,kids,falls,doctors...
wood stairs,runner installed,installed bad and same as above scenerio..doctors..
installed correct and it's safer and looks good overall.
my kids are important just like everyones children. take care..

brianosaur · 02-21-2007, 01:39 PM

It can be slippery when you are in your socks - if you are not really paying attention and especially if you are hurrying down the staircase.

What will happen is that if a you are decending quickly, while stepping on only the balls of your feet (no heal contact) and your toes are hanging off the bullnose, you are not making much total surface contact with the tread. [Try this slowly to see what I mean.]

Slipping seems to occur more when going down rather then up b/c of this reason.

If however you are aware of your foot placement and have plenty of surface contact sliding isn't usually much of an issue.

Now concidering that kids never scurry around the house, you may want to think this over.

I re-treaded my staircase with oak treads and oak veneer risers. I thought it to be a sin to cover them up. I can tell you that everyone in my house had slid on their butt at least once during the first year because of the reason I gave above. We all walk differently when decending now. Holding the rail, putting your heals down and just simply realizing that you are going down a flight of steps (ie. not off in la la land) will have a big effect on if you slip or not.