This is the eighth in a series of 12 articles featuring the great information usually shared at Kahala Pacific Floors’ monthly Great Flooring 101 seminars. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced them to cancel the wonderful sessions, but company president Shirley Pai Hilton (pictured at right) has developed a new hourlong webinar version of Great Flooring 101 and is sharing some of the information right here.
Thus far, we have talked about solid and engineered wood flooring and their particular characteristics. We have also talked about bamboo, laminate and luxury vinyl flooring, as well as covered some basic installation information and learned about moldings — both transitional moldings and perimeter moldings, such as quarter rounds and baseboards.
Today, we will talk about another place in your home where you will love having hard surface flooring instead of carpeting: your staircase. Whether you have a simple staircase boxed in by drywall or one with exposed ends that needs to be wrapped on the edges, having wood, vinyl or stone on your steps make them so much easier to clean, and they will stay looking great so much longer than any carpeting will.
There are two main methods of covering stairs with wood or vinyl. One involves using a single whole piece of wood or vinyl called a tread. This is installed on top of the tread (horizontal surface) or as a wrap (with vinyl) and eliminates all seams on the top surface. The riser (vertical surface) will also be done with a single piece of matching material. There is also the option to do a white painted riser to add contrast on the stairs. The other choice is to use a nosing and flooring to cover the steps. A stair nosing in matching material is used on the outer horizontal edge and flooring makes up the balance of the tread and the riser.
One of the main things with stairs is that they are installed with safety in mind (must be glued and nailed). The last thing you want is anything coming loose as you go down your stairs. Also, there should not be any moldings (such as small 8-inch sections of quarter round) along the wall on each side of the step (very ugly and serves no purpose).
Want to learn more and get a special discount on your flooring? Please register for one of our upcoming Saturday or evening sessions of Great Flooring 101. Upcoming webinars are at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 9 or 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21. Registration is required, so please sign up by calling 847-7711 or emailing sales@piiwood.com. See you online!
KAHALA PACIFIC FLOORS
CONTACT 847-7711
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