I am looking to finish my stairs on a budget. I pulled the carpet and found pine for the treads but plywood for the risers and landing. My initial thought was to stain the treads and paint the risers like many of the others have done. My issue is with finishing the landing so that it will match up with the rest of the treads. The landing in the middle of the stairwell. Adding hardwood over the landing only will bring me out of code because of the added height. I do not want to use laminate such as Pergo for the landing.

Is there any way a non expert like myself can tackle this, or should I just have new carpet installed? I already removed all the tack strips...

Thanks.

 

Welcome to the forums!

Could you pull up the plywood and install hardwood in it's place ??
Posting a pic or two would help us better understand what you have going on - http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to see if it can be pulled tonight. Maybe I can replace it with something like this?

Stairtek 1 in. x 11.5 in. x 36 in. Unfinished Builder Grade Red Oak Tread-BTROC1136 at The Home Depot

 

I was thinking more along the line of T&G flooring which would be 3/4" thick the same as the your plywood [I assume] Without the T&G to hold the flooring together along the length I don't think the floor would be very solid.

 

Just another thought for the landing. You can buy pine stair tread material in 1" thickness that will match your existing treads. Paint the risers for sure to give a contrast and eye ease when climbing them. On the picture below, I used oak tread material across the landing. I just used the first piece whole with the bull nose, and cut the other bull noses off and biscuited the other planks together, face nailing to the joist system on the landing. Maybe worth a shot, and it gives you the bull nose built in that you need.

 

I went ahead and bought some 1" pine treads with the bullnose. The landing will be 1/4" higher than the steps. I think this just makes it regarding being code compliant. As you can see in the pictures attached, I have some angular cuts to figure out. Looks like I need to purchase a table saw, sliding miter saw, and an air nailer since. I'm a first time home owner so I don't have alot of power tools yet.