wood under carpet is real cheap pine that is in poor shape, so it can't just be stained.

I hope you get lots of ideas. I need to do this in my old house where the carpet was glued to the steps. All I can think to do is replace everything. I can't imagine I would be able to get the rubber backing off.

I swear on a home show all they did was replace the treads with good quality wood. I'm sure there are tons of tutorials online.

I am in the process of doing this right now. I am painting the treads black instead of stain. I think I could have stained them but I wanted them black. I may put a runner down but that remains to be seen. It's turning out to be easier than I thought. I removed carpet, sanded pine treads, used wood filler to fill any bad places, then primed. Next comes at least two coats of paint. We are covering the raisers with a good 1/4" plywood. I rolled the raisers with a sponge roller so there isn't any streaks from a brush. I don't think the padding will be too hard to get off. You should give it a try.

What puzzles us most is the railing around the top. And how to finish that laminate floor edge butts up to the stairway hole. It's a split entry, so there's quite a large hole in the floor that needs to be finished off. Yet maintain the floating floor.

http://southernhospitalityblog.com/week-20-how-to-install-new-stair-treads/

Here is one way to do this on a budget. Rhoda has done many DIY projects and is a wealth of information.

Thanks for the link. I was sure hoping to get more response from people on here who had done this themselves, and perhaps had pics. Thanks for you who responded.

I am SO glad I stopped back here! Quarter inch plywood skin is the answer! Stairs just got moved up on the list.

"wood under carpet is real cheap pine that is in poor shape, so it can't just be stained."
Not always. I had pine under mine and painted them. Do you know what's undeath the carpet? We had a local flooring guy remove the carpet and staples and I painted the treads a dark brown (SW Woodsy Brown) and the risers white. Looking back, I wish I would've used General Finishes Gel stain, but that's another story. The link Bonnie posted above was the first person I thought of. Thriftydecorchic did her stairs as well. My treads looked like this when the carpet was up.

Reading what you wrote again, I don'y think my link is very helpful at all. Could you post a photo showing the top of the stairs where the flooring is? I'm having a hard time picturing what you're saying.

At the top of our stairs we have an oak landing tread and carpet buts into that. (Our railings are all oak)
Doing a quick search, this is what ours looks like.
http://www.directstairparts.com/collections/wood-treads/products/lineal-landing-tread-3-1-2-per-lf?gclid=COudpO6tocECFQQT7AodY34A3w

Here's a photo.
{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Thriftydecorchic

This post was edited by sheesharee on Fri, Oct 10, 14 at 1:41

Camin,

How do you apply the 1/4'' plywood to the risers? Nails? Glue?

Linda

Haven't done it yet, but small nail gun and probably glue as well. I will ask DH tonight. He has been working 7 days a week at his work.

delete double post

This post was edited by caminnc on Sat, Oct 11, 14 at 6:50