Wood tread carefully

Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in stems and roots of trees. It is decorative with different style of grains and can be used for many purposes.

Stair treads are the boards across the top of the stair that your feet step on as you walk up or down.

Hardwood stairs with a decorative runner can increase the graciousness of your home. The price of hardwood stairs vary.

Economical Hardwood

Poplar Stair Treads: Lightweight, and somewhat soft for a hardwood, poplar is fine-grained in white to yellow-brown. It paints well and is easy to cut.

Beech Stair Treads: Stronger than oak or maple, beech is typically a reddish-brown wood that is fairly straight grained.

Ash Stair Treads: Quite strong, ash is grayish-brown in color and grows all over USA and Canada.

Red oak stair treads: Hard, strong, rigid with a pronounced open grain, while red oak resists warping.

Hickory Stair Treads: Very strong, hickory is known for its distinctive look and sharp contrast in light and dark color.

Mid-priced Hardwood

White Oak Stair Treads: Hard, strong, white oak is open-grained, but not as pronounced as red oak. It resists shrinking and warping, has a golden color, as well as finishes well.

Hard Maple Stair Treads: Extremely hard, hard maple pieces with birds-eye or wavy grains are highly prized. Its color ranges from reddish to nearly white in color, and it finishes well.

Cherry Stair Treads: The beautiful markings in cherry have long fascinated woodworkers. The heartwood varies from light brown to a reddish brown and will gradually darken over time with exposure to light.

Walnut Stair Treads: Hard, heavy, extra strong with a fairly pronounced, straight grain, walnut resists warping and shrinking. It is light to dark brown in color as well as finishes well.

Luxury Hardwood

Mahogany Stair Treads:

Durable and fine-grained, mahogany resists shrinking, warping, and swelling. It finishes well and is easy to cut.

Birch Stair Treads: Hard, strong and fine-grained, birch resists shrinking as well as warping. It is similar in color to maple and finishes fairly well.

Some other issues to consider in choosing your stair treads:

Diversity: If you want your home to have a unique flair, try hickory, cherry, walnut, white oak, or maple for your stair treads. Shop at flooring retailers or search the internet for the type of floor you require.

Prefinished: Order your stair treads prefinished, and you won’t have to deal with having to stay away from the stairs for a few days while the finish seals. In one day you can install factory finished pieces.  Where as, prefinished pieces can move independently with humidity changes in your home. This decreases the risk of seasonal separations that cause those creaks.

Color: Some species of flooring are so beautiful in their natural color, they do not require any added color. Compare hickory, cherry or walnut stair treads to get a sense of the possibilities.

Texture: Hardwoods do not have to be smooth. These pieces have a classic look and add great value to upscale homes.

Turn those irritating squeaks into an occasion for more beauty with restored stair treads. The ups and downs in your life will suddenly become a lot better!