Has anyone removed carpet on a staircase... (Updated)

[lmdbww]

I found this on Pinterest one day and DH and I are both in (LOVE) with the look.

www.reclaimologistsandothercraftychicks.com/2013/03/staircase-transformation.html

However, i'm almost positive that we do not have hardwood stair treads (our house is 9 years old, so i'm not sure if there are actual treads made of particle board, just generic pieces of pine, etc.....).

DH says when he's off next week he'll pull some carpet back and see what's under there. Our staircase has one step up onto a landing, the main staircase, another landing, and then 4 steps up into our first floor (living room/dining/kitchen level). 

I've been googling all morning and i'm scared about what's under there! lol

Has anyone done this? How did it turn out? Any info appreciated.

[Mashara]

Yeah, we ripped up the carpet when we bought our house. I can't seem to find any of the after pics online, but here's one showing what we found under the stairwell carpet. We repainted the baseboards and backs of the stairs a bone color similar to what existed. I'll see if I can remember to take pic tonight, although it's been eight years and probably needs to be repainted at this point.

[r]

I pulled the carpet up on my last house and tried to refinish it but since it was 100 year old house with layers and layers of paint drips and stain upon stain .. we just covered it back up with nicer carpet lol. I do want to redo our new house stairs which is the same age as yours. I am almost positive it is plywood under the carpet. There has been many of bloggers that have put new treads and risers on. I'm gonna hire mine out when the time comes. We are not carpenters.

[msmerymac]

What do your floors look like? Would the stair treads match or would they be a contrasting color?

I was also afraid our stairs were just going to be trashed and/or particle board underneath. But our house is 95~ years old, so it was the same wood as the rest of the house, and it was in really good shape. We were thinking about painting the risers white, but they were in such good shape that we didn't. I figure painted risers are more maintenance than non-painted, since now I never have to re-paint them if they get knicked.

When we moved in they were covered in this carpet:



But when we took it up it was in really good shape, though covered in gross carpet crumbs:




You can kind of see them in this photo. We had them professionally redone, both the treads and the risers, which wasn't a tough job. Like the rest of the floors, they just have 3 coats of clear poly. 

[Susie]

We ripped up some fug carpet,


and this was what was under it:




but we ended up putting new carpet down.  I am not sure whether those stairs would be reasonable candidates for finishing, but the subfloor on the upstairs hall clearly is not.  It wouldn't have made sense to finish the stairs unless we were going to do new HW floors upstairs (or downstairs, but we're not doing new floors downstairs at all right now).

[lmdbww]

Dec 16, 2014 13:57:26 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

What do your floors look like? Would the stair treads match or would they be a contrasting color?

I was also afraid our stairs were just going to be trashed and/or particle board underneath. But our house is 95~ years old, so it was the same wood as the rest of the house, and it was in really good shape. We were thinking about painting the risers white, but they were in such good shape that we didn't. I figure painted risers are more maintenance than non-painted, since now I never have to re-paint them if they get knicked.

The flooring in our basement/entry area was just redone (dark wood laminate over concrete) and we eventually will be putting this same flooring in on our first floor (there's carpet there now).   If we can stain the stair treads it'd be dark/somewhat matching. 

Unless that's not possible, then i'm not sure what we'll do (which is kind of why I was asking for suggestions? lol)

[ellipsis]

No, but I considered it when we had the rest of our floors refinished. Half of the staircase has real hardwood treads under the carpet and the other half has cheap pine. Our house is 13 years old.

[stephm0188]

I peeled back a little corner of carpet on ours and it's that pressed particle board crap. I was bummed.

[lavender444]

Dec 16, 2014 21:00:28 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

I peeled back a little corner of carpet on ours and it's that pressed particle board crap. I was bummed.

Ditto. I was also bummed. It's in our plans to do hardwood up the stairs, but for now it's remins carpet until its in the budget to have it done. 

[pitterwoo]

I peeled up the carpet on mine because it was gross. Unfortunately the stairs were also pretty bad. They had been refinished in the past and have bad swirl marks from a sander. They're bare right now, but we're going to put carpet down again. I just don't care about this enough for refinishing.

[kaylie]

We did. Our house was built in 1985 so I assumed it would be crap, but we actually had pine underneath. Not the best wood to refinish, but we stained it to match the hardwood we put in and it looks fine. The wood on the risers was in rougher shape, so we bought very thin particle board and cut it to fit over each stair, sort of like a veneer. We painted those white before putting them on which was easier than trying to paint them in place. 

I will say that it wasn't quite as easy as that blog post makes it sound. There was a lot of sanding and if you do have wood, you should condition it before you stain it. 

There are products designed for DIYers to re-treading stairs if yours are particle board. I think Stairtek, RetroTread and Nustair are the ones HD and Lowes sell. That was my backup plan if we had particle board.

[partiallysunny]

I had the same experience as msmerymac. Crumblies and all. Except I haven't refinished mine yet. I can't figure out how to tell a three year old to only step on every other step, so I'm waiting until he's older to refinish.

If it is particle board, you can purchase stair treads at one of the big box stores.

[lmdbww]

Dec 17, 2014 4:59:35 GMT -5 kaylie said:

We did. Our house was built in 1985 so I assumed it would be crap, but we actually had pine underneath. Not the best wood to refinish, but we stained it to match the hardwood we put in and it looks fine. The wood on the risers was in rougher shape, so we bought very thin particle board and cut it to fit over each stair, sort of like a veneer. We painted those white before putting them on which was easier than trying to paint them in place. 

I will say that it wasn't quite as easy as that blog post makes it sound. There was a lot of sanding and if you do have wood, you should condition it before you stain it. 

There are products designed for DIYers to re-treading stairs if yours are particle board. I think Stairtek, RetroTread and Nustair are the ones HD and Lowes sell. That was my backup plan if we had particle board.

That's beautiful and exactly the look i'm hoping for.  Nicely done!

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. The only unknown is what material the landings are made out of.

[lmdbww]

Woah. I came home today and DH started tearing carpet off! The treads look like wood Altho im not sure what kind (prob pine im guessing?) the landing is particle board tho. Can you stain pine?

[kaylie]

Dec 17, 2014 17:39:54 GMT -5 lmdbww said:

Woah. I came home today and DH started tearing carpet off! The treads look like wood Altho im not sure what kind (prob pine im guessing?) the landing is particle board tho. Can you stain pine?

You can stain pine (that's what ours are) but you want to use a wood conditioner on it after you sand it so that it takes the stain better. It also comes out a bit redder than other woods, so take that into account when you're choosing a color. 

[cjeanette]

I am really wanting to do this but can't convince H to even peek under the carpet until we are ready to do it. So I have no idea what lays beneath the carpet of my 1996 house. One year in and it is killing me.

[pitterwoo]

Dec 17, 2014 21:20:33 GMT -5 cjeanette said:

I am really wanting to do this but can't convince H to even peek under the carpet until we are ready to do it. So I have no idea what lays beneath the carpet of my 1996 house. One year in and it is killing me.

Why don't you look, or do you have a pact or something?  You should look.  Look and report back your findings.

[lmdbww]

Dec 17, 2014 21:00:55 GMT -5 kaylie said:

Dec 17, 2014 17:39:54 GMT -5 lmdbww said:

Woah. I came home today and DH started tearing carpet off! The treads look like wood Altho im not sure what kind (prob pine im guessing?) the landing is particle board tho. Can you stain pine?

You can stain pine (that's what ours are) but you want to use a wood conditioner on it after you sand it so that it takes the stain better. It also comes out a bit redder than other woods, so take that into account when you're choosing a color. 

Would you mind sharing what stain (brand and color) you used?

I found another blog post last night specifically describing the process of staining pine and it seems pretty straight forward (just, the fact that it's going to take a shit ton of time lol)  Fill holes, sand, condition wood, and she used 4 coats of Minwax Polyshades stain.  She did the same thing with the toe kicks that you did but I think ours are good to paint.

[kaylie]

Dec 18, 2014 11:18:29 GMT -5 lmdbww said:

Dec 17, 2014 21:00:55 GMT -5 kaylie said:

You can stain pine (that's what ours are) but you want to use a wood conditioner on it after you sand it so that it takes the stain better. It also comes out a bit redder than other woods, so take that into account when you're choosing a color. 

Would you mind sharing what stain (brand and color) you used?

I found another blog post last night specifically describing the process of staining pine and it seems pretty straight forward (just, the fact that it's going to take a shit ton of time lol)  Fill holes, sand, condition wood, and she used 4 coats of Minwax Polyshades stain.  She did the same thing with the toe kicks that you did but I think ours are good to paint.    

    

Ours is Pittsburgh Paints brand. They have a partnership with the manufacturer of our hardwood flooring (Somerset) and sell stains to match their products. Ours is "hickory spice". 

[katecoop]

Yes. To be honest, my husband & I never hated any project more. We pulled up the carpet and had the pressed particle board stuff... some bloggers have actually painted/stained those, but I didn't want to do that. We replaced them with stair treads from Lowes that we cut to size. Unfortunately, our stringers were not level, so it was a LOT more work than just making a few cuts.

Fortunately we love the results, but it was a time in my life I don't want to relive. LOL

[pixy0stix]

I reeeaaaally want to do this. I hate carpeted stairs. Ours are particle board though, so it's going to take some doing to get them refinished.

[lmdbww]

Progress photo. So far it's going well and DH isn't complaining too much. Old paint is stripped, and he is almost done filling in holes.

[lmdbww]

(Sorry that photo is obnoxiously huge, can you resize in Tapatalk app?)

[pitterwoo]

Your stairs look like they will be great.

[house]

Y'all are bad influence. I just peeked under since the carpet under the first step has come loose. Yeah I am saving that for later. LOL. I think mine are pine wood too.

[pixy0stix]

I'm tearing up carpet on New Year's day. I'm so excited!

Everyone I've told my plans to gives me the side-eye and a, "but aren't they going to be slick?"

Nope.

[lmdbww]

Dec 29, 2014 13:12:09 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm tearing up carpet on New Year's day. I'm so excited!

Everyone I've told my plans to gives me the side-eye and a, "but aren't they going to be slick?"

Nope.

Why are some people such joy-killers? lol

[pixy0stix]

Dec 29, 2014 14:26:21 GMT -5 lmdbww said:

Dec 29, 2014 13:12:09 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm tearing up carpet on New Year's day. I'm so excited!

Everyone I've told my plans to gives me the side-eye and a, "but aren't they going to be slick?"

Nope.

Why are some people such joy-killers? lol

I don't know! harumph.

How're your stairs looking?

[karinothing]

Dec 29, 2014 13:12:09 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm tearing up carpet on New Year's day. I'm so excited!

Everyone I've told my plans to gives me the side-eye and a, "but aren't they going to be slick?"

Nope.

Yours are plywood right? So are you adding treads? Do you add risers too? What are the rest of your floors, and if hardwood, how do you get them to match? Sorry for all the questions ha, I have hardwood and feel it would be a PITA to match on my own.

[pixy0stix]

Dec 29, 2014 20:28:48 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Dec 29, 2014 13:12:09 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm tearing up carpet on New Year's day. I'm so excited!

Everyone I've told my plans to gives me the side-eye and a, "but aren't they going to be slick?"

Nope.

Yours are plywood right? So are you adding treads? Do you add risers too? What are the rest of your floors, and if hardwood, how do you get them to match? Sorry for all the questions ha, I have hardwood and feel it would be a PITA to match on my own.

As far as I can tell, they're actually wood. I was wrong about the particle board, I was just taking a guess. They were painted white at some point.