Hardwood stairs and carpet runners

[Deleted]

The carpet runner on our stairs is dingy from the foot traffic.

The last time I checked these run about $250.

Or, I could rip off the one that's there and have H paint the treads white and be done w/ the maintenance.

Tell me why I shouldn't.

ETA: It's called a tread right? Not the part you step on with your foot, the vertical part? The sideboards are already white.

[auntie]

You step on the treads, it sounds like you mean the riser.

[Deleted]

Sounds like it could be cute. Are you worried about your kids with hard stairs? I know some people worry about falls. Would the tread stay wood?

[Deleted]

The tread would stay wood, yes.

I'm wondering if there are any safety issues I'm missing here. I mean, the landing at the bottom of the stairs is tile, so I'm not sure how much a carpet runner would pad a fall.

But maybe wood is slippery-er?

[Deleted]

Yeah, I think more slippery is what some people worry about, but I'm not sure. I've never lived in a house with stairs, but I did grow up with hardwoods and had a tiny knot on the back of my head until I was 20 or so becuase of a socks + hardwood + 3-year-old's lack of balance incident It does seem like the tile at the bottom could be bad either way, but if they bounced all the way down, that's a lot of sharp edges.

ETA: This is all from someone who has no idea what she's doing around any children. Just something I've seen other people worry about. I don't have any idea if it's a valid reason to do/not do it.

[bunnymendelbaum]

We ended up putting ugly black grippy stickers on our wood treads. They were just too slippery. I had a pretty bad fall.

Even with the stickers, I try not to go down our stairs in socks only and DD only owns socks with grippy bottoms.

I'm not a huge fan of carpet stair runners, but maybe clean it now and wait to remove it until your kids are a bit older?

[my4girls]

I am not a huge fan of runners but I think we're getting one. We just had new floors put in and the steps are being stained to match and the floor guy has warned us several times that they are going to be really slick when he's done so I think we're going to bite the bullet and put a runner down. I really don't need any of us taking a tumble. I fell down my parents wood steps when I was a teenager while holding my 6 month old brother- thankfully they had a split level and it was only 6 steps or we both would have been really hurt

[chanteltbarrett]

I have two sets of wood stairs, neither of which have runners. I have never had an issue with slipping with the bamboo ones leading to the finished basement, even carrying heavy laundry baskets up and down them. The other set is pine, and I have had a few slips on those, one of which was pretty nasty. I'm considering getting a runner and it's only me in my house (no kids).

[wawa]

If you spend any time in your house in socks or slippers then I wouldn't recommend leaving the wood naked. They look great - but I busted my ass on my friend's bare wood steps twice (and head once). She's fallen down them at least once. And her toddler took a tumble twice.

And then she finally put carpet on them. The damn things are like ice when you're wearing socks. And I often have cold feet, so I like to wear socks.

[minniebee]

My H will absolutely not have bare wood stairs. Two years ago, he took a fall on stairs, landed very awkwardly, and broke his leg. He now has a huge titanium rod in his tibia as a result. I would keep a runner, it might not look super pretty, but it is safer.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the feedback - I'll keep the runner.