| The first thing your going to need is patience. Installing | | | | your installing on the treads or use a painted wood as |
| laminate or hardwood on stairs can be tedious and | | | | a riser. 1 X pine or polar are good for this. Some folks |
| time consuming. This is a little different than installing | | | | like the stairs all the same, whereas others prefer the |
| solid stair treads. In a lot of cases folks want their | | | | stairs to stand out more with the painted riser. |
| stairs to match the surrounding laminate or hardwood | | | | Consider the cost of the materials. Stair nosing can be |
| flooring. If you decide to take on the task, the main | | | | costly, but you can usually get two stairs done with |
| objectives is are to cut the treads and stair noses as | | | | one length of nosing. Shop around for the best price of |
| close as possible to the sides and make sure the stair | | | | pine or poplar for the risers if you want that look. As |
| nose, treads and risers are attached securely. (I use | | | | far as the amount of flooring you will need, a typical |
| glue, construction adhesive and nails). | | | | stair is about 3 feet wide by about 1 foot deep. This is |
| A lot of times the stairs have carpet on them, so | | | | 3 square feet for the tread or 6 square feet if your |
| removing the carpet can reveal some surprises. Such | | | | doing the riser with the flooring also. Always add 10 |
| as the over hang on each stair (which may need to be | | | | percent extra when ordering your flooring. This extra |
| removed) or the zillion staples the carpet guys used | | | | flooring is needed for waste and when mistakes are |
| when install the carpet. Or maybe the treads under the | | | | made. Its good to have extra left over also in case of |
| carpet are warped or loose. | | | | repairs that may need to be done in the future. |
| When preparing the stairs I remove all the staples, | | | | Using good quality tools can make the job easier. I use |
| scrap any debris of such as drywall mud paint over | | | | a sliding miter saw, nail gun, circular saw and table saw |
| spray etc. I also check for any treads that may not be | | | | as well as various hand tools. |
| flat. Sometimes this can be corrected with screws | | | | I will not use quarter round on the stairs to cover gaps. |
| which are better than nails, nails tend to work loose. Or | | | | It does not look good and it makes your stairs smaller. |
| using a belt sander to get rid of high spots. Worse | | | | If you have to cover gaps get some matching putty to |
| case would be to replace the tread with the same | | | | fill them in. You will need some anyway to fill nail holes. |
| thickness board. And removing the over hang on each | | | | Anyway you look at it, its a lot of work. The more |
| stair or fill in the space below the over hang. | | | | educated you are when you start, the better the |
| Deciding on what type of riser is something that needs | | | | finished job will look. It can be very rewarding when |
| to be considered. You can either use the same flooring | | | | done the right way. |