i want laminate throughout my house - but what to do about the stairs?

Question

can you put laminate on them as well? or strip off the carpet and paint that? or carpet just on the stairs? i don't like the idea of carpet in the front entrance as it will get dirty.

Answer 1

you cant laminate stairs all the way across you can laminate it half way and have carpet the other side of the flooring i have my whole house laminate floored except the stairs which is carpeted

Answer 2

Laminate Stairs

Answer 3

I have never heard of stairs being laminated. We have laminate through a lot of the house and the stairs are varnished wood but that's one place I wish we had carpet on! The front will get dirty if it's anything like my porch! We have vinyl down on the porch floor which I find far easier to keep than the laminate, plus with the amount of heavy traffic vinyl doesn't seem to mark or scratch the same, and it's also the one place where we put in underfloor heating - just heaven stepping into warm shoes in winter!

Answer 4

I would suggest putting coir matting at the front entrance say for the first metre or so (no this doesn't look odd provided that the fitter uses a similar trim to that at the entrances to your rooms). Don't make this area too small as it's purpose is to trap dirt and absorb any moisture from shoes and prevent it transferring onto the laminate in your hallway and therefore wrecking your new flooring.

As for stairs, it's a matter of personal preference. I would suggest a neutral nondescript coloured carpet (to co-ordinate with your choice of laminate) and invest in some Zorb (if having dirty carpets bothers you). Zorb is a dry powder cleaner made by Dyson (works a bit like Shake and Vac - spinkle on, leave for a while and hoover off). Excellent stuff for spot cleaning (even removes black coffee from cream carpets (been there, done that!!)). Another plus is that you get added sound insulation too.

However, if you really want wood you have consider if your stairs are in a condition that they can be sanded down and stained or painted. One minus side is the lack of noise insulation and the associated maintenance (mopping, sanding, re varnishing/painting). It also takes longer to 'install' than a carpet.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

To cut through the confusion:- Yes it can be done - many of the bigger brands sell stair kits which contain an internal and external L shaped nosing - Though these are really designed for one or two steps not whole stairs as there is verry little scope for expansion on the width of one stair and you still need the expansion at the sides so the whole thing tends to move and damage itself easily - there is also no kit for bullnose steps so these will need to be boxed out square with leathally sharpe corners - if you really want to do it MATCH the laminate with real wood flooring as this can be fixed to the existing and not floating like most laminates - but get a pro to do it - there's a lot of detail to get right - you don't want to trip and land face first at the foot of an oak stairs - man that would HURT!

Answer 6

Don't do it, not all through, carpets are much better in bedrooms. You can put carpet on just the stairs if you choose, for a while we had a tiled hall and carpeted stairs, but went back to a carpet in the hall, we like it better, and it doesn't get dirty. We have a big doormat, and it works well. Laminate floors can be slippery, especially if you are only wearing socks, so I would say wherever else you put it avoid the stairs.

Answer 7

you can carpet the bit you actually walk on, then face each step with laminate so it alternates laminate/carpet up the stairs. You can also carry the carpet throughout the landing. Make sure you get a nice light carpet that matches the laminate like seagrass or short woven wool that is easy to vacuum!

Answer 8

I would recomend Just Laminating the entrance and carpeting the stairs. I have done this. And it look great.
Apart from the trouble of laminating the stairs it will be much quieter if you use carpet.

Answer 9

We had our stairs laminated and it looks the dogs b~##*$ks. The joiner cut the bullnose off each step and simply laminated. The joins were concealed in two ways. Mastic where the step meets the riser and a thin metal beading on the edge of each step.
He provided specially-made carpet half-circles for each step to deaden the noise and provide an anti-slip footfall. They carpets are attached to the laminate with velcro and can b taken up and cleaned and then returned. We can also buy diff coloured ones to change the look.

Answer 10

You don't laminate the stairs. Best strip off the carpet, get a good hand held sander and smooth the steps down to the wood (probably been painted over the years by previous owners) and then use a good Ronseal varnish to bring out the natural wood grain. Best of luck

Answer 11

I saw a terrific idea for stairs in a neighbour's house. She had ply wood fitted to the step part and the back part of the stairs and a kind of wooden thing on the edge that hid the join. She had it varnished a nice colour and it looked really good.
Failing this, why don't you get lino and that rubber stuff on the front of it? That makes a lovely job, too, but is very expensive. The other you could do yourself.

Sorry, I misread your question. I didn't realise you were more concerned about your front entrance. Thought it was your stairs that you were concerned about.