We are remodelling, and are going to end up putting laminate (Pergo) on the stairs. Just on the treads, leaving the risers uncovered.
What is the correct way to finish the stair edges, such that they aren’t prone to chip when people step on them? In other places, I know people use those metal “L” rods to reinforce drywall, like here. Is that recommended for stairs? I can’t find anyone that explains the best way to do it on the web. What is the right way to position the laminate, drywall, and stairnose molding (and perhaps metal bracket) for maximum strength?
I’m not sure I’m following this. Are you thinking that the front of each tread would be capped with something like drywall cornerbead? Here’s another thought – call up the Pergo company and ask about using their product on stairs. It sounds like an atypical use, if you ask me. Wouldn’t solid wood be quicker, easier, more robust, and about the same price?
I’m a bit confused here too. What’s drywall have to do with it? You say you’re leaving the risers uncovered. Hopefully you’re not putting drywall on the risers, as it would never stand up to abuse.
Basically, the way you normally finish the edges of laminate goods like Pergo is to glue/tack on a hardwood (or laminate) veneer or molding. In your application, a veneer would chip almost instantly, so I’d suggest a 1/2 - 1 inch hardwood molding, finished to match.
But then again, I’m not convinced that Pergo is a real good solution for stairs.
Like others have said pergo makes stair-nosing for this purpose.
I second the recomendation not to use pergo on your stairs. It will not stand up on it’s own to regular foot traffic. If you plant to put a runner or something down the staircase you should be ok. Pergo on stairs most likely voids the warrenty.
Pergo provides detailed instructions for using its plank flooring on stairs - both treads and risers. Pergo makes stair nosing for this purpose, or you could use the aluminum nosings available for use with vinyl tile. Unlike normal Pergo plank installation, the whole thing is glued together. The aluminum nosing would be nailed on, rather than glued. Frankly, I don’t think either nosing treatment will look very good or last very long. That front edge of a stair tread is an extremely high-wear area.
What’s the current condition of the existing stairs? Refinishable oak? Battered plywood? You say you’re leaving the risers as-is - what’s on them now?
Three people who bid on installing our Pergo flooring adamantly refused to even consider installing it on stairs. They each claimed it would take longer to do the stairs than it took to do three bedrooms, six closets, a landing, and a hallway. Their contention was that stairs would have to be rebuilt in order to use lamninate flooring. Further, they claimed that this would be true of any stairs and not just ours. Two people who did bid on doing the stairs gave us prices that almost doubled the cost without stairs included. We ended up by replacing the carpet on the stairs. YMMV.
We had a Pergo floor installed and used it on the treads and risers of the stairs. We used the stair bullnose edge. We did the floor ourselves and had the stairs done professionally. Pergo is too slippery for stairs. It’s a very slippery surface. The Pergo bullnose looks weird, it steps up a little from the tread surface which is maybe a good thing because it kept us from slipping our feet off the steps.
My recommendation, if you must use Pergo on the floor, is to have real wood stairs that are stained to match the Pergo.
Another point of consideration is the first step. Unless you’re adding the same dimension to the floor which meets that step, you’ve increased the rise of the first step by the thickness of the HPL flooring. LSC101 calls for 7" rise and 11" tread depth on new stairs, rise height not to exceed 8", adjacent rise variation not to exceed 3/16" with a rise differential maximum of 3/8" per flight. IRC and UBC have similar standards: 7 3/4" max riser (IRC) 8" (UBC). Minimum nosing projection is 3/4", maximum 1 1/4". Headroom above stairways shall not be less than 8’6", also.
We had already ordered the stairnose molding from Pergo.
To clarify, the risers are currently sheetrock (same as drywall, right?) They have up to now been covered with carpet. We will have to do something to shore it up in any case - it’s flaking away a little.
This is a townhouse built in the 1980s, and it was evidently built very cheaply, cutting corners wherever possible. (I’m the 3rd owner.)
Apparently for a while the builders weren’t even getting paid and walked off the job! :eek:
We talked to the guy at Lumber Liquidators today and he echoed the sentiment about not using laminate on the stairs, and instead using solid wood, stained to match, for the treads. It was priced at $35 / step for white oak, the cheapest option. For our 2 x 14 stairs, that comes out to ~ $1,000 in materials, just for the treads! :eek:
For those that have used Pergo on the stairs and it failed: how exactly did it fail? Was it just too slipper, or did it break somehow? Wouldn’t you also have the slipperyness problem with regular hardwood?
We have already put Pergo on the top floor, where the stairs end up, but we haven’t finished the “last row” which would be the top stair, since we haven’t resolved how we want to do it.
I have installed laminate on stairs. Back when I was a much younger and less evil ghandi. I was also a considerably less experienced contractor. I only charged double the labor rate to install the stairs.
Big Mistake.
I advise you not to even attempt it. The way you describe the house construction leads me to believe that each and every tread will be a different dimension from the last. The treads will likely be either convex or concave and where they hit the riser is not at all likely to be a straight line. Thats probably why something as flexible and easy to shape as sheet rock was used, to cover all the gaps in the framing.
These stairs sound as if they were roughed together by the framers with the knowledge that they would be carpeted. Wood treads are a better bet but be prepared to learn how to use a contour guage. You may want to begin shopping for some pre-stained quarter round to use to hide the gaps you are going to get if you decide to go ahead with this.
We had no problem with the Pergo wearing on the stairs, it was only the slipperiness that was bad.
We had Pergo on the risers which I didn’t like the looks of. If I had to do it again with Pergo I would use painted wood for the risers. I would also get a runner for the stairs so they would be safe.
These were '80’s built steps made to be carpeted. Things were straight enough because I believe it was all precut stock materials.
That’s actually not a bad price for oak treads. If you’re into the house for the long haul, think twice about not going for them. Rebuilding the stairs with them will make for a much nicer finished product than skinning the existing steps with anything.
If you look at Pergo as something that will last 5 years if youre careful with it, and oak as something that will last 50 years and shrug off abuse, (they’re easily sanded and re-finished) the oak is suddenly a lot cheaper over the years.
Did you DIY the instalation? If so I am impressed by the craftmanship of the carpenters.
On every site I have been on the stringers arrive on site pre cut then the framers bang them into place. Outside they have a guy on the chop saw whacking off treads and risers.
Fortunately I no longer do this kind of building. You could tread a stair case of mine in glass and not worry about cracks. Building codes maybe.
Ouch. If you're a do-it yourselfer, you can get red or white oak at about $4.00 sq foot rough (actually, you can do much better than that if you know some smaller out-of-the-way lumberyards or catch a special). So, if you plane and machine the treads yourself, you can probably get away with about $12-15/tread.
Just to follow up on this, in case anyone’s curious.
We’re going to use the Pergo for the treads, and mill our own edge nosing out of oak, stained to match, for the stair edges. Point taken about the Pergo stair nosing not standing up to abuse. We’re going to plaster straight over the wood framing on the risers, just for esthetics.
We hadn’t thought about the Pergo being slippery on the stairs - thanks for the warning. We’ll have to come up with a solution for that, e.g. the aforementioned runner.
To put this in context, we’re planning to rent this place out this year, so we don’t want to make it a “palace” - just something that’ll stand up to a reasonable amount of abuse by renters and not look too awful. In our next place, it’ll be nice, real wood and done properly throughout
EvilGhandi - you nailed this house to a “T”.
BTW, for underlayment we ended up with 6mm cork. We looked at various other “space age” synthetic products, even some that claimed to have better noise-deadening properties than cork, but in the end we found some cork on sale for $0.60 / sq foot (200 sq ft roll), and everyone seems to think cork is the tried and trusted way of doing things.
