Carpeting Stairs
Hey Stoners! I have a newborn who is ready to explore the apartment on his knees. I’m looking to carpet a few flights of stairs and would appreciate any advice you guys can provide in terms of carpeting companies, prices, customer service, etc. Any words of assistance would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
Hey Stoners!
I have a newborn who is ready to explore the apartment on his knees. I’m looking to carpet a few flights of stairs and would appreciate any advice you guys can provide in terms of carpeting companies, prices, customer service, etc.
Any words of assistance would be very much appreciated.
Thanks.
Silvermax – for pubic stair hallway, use commercial carpet. Yes, it is synthetic, nylon and other such stuff, but it doesn’t stink and outgas forever like synthetic carpet for residential uses.
It is easier to clean, being synthetic, which you want for the public stair, and wears well – which I don’t think your average residential carpet does in public places, especially on stairs.
I’m talking about the relatively flat kind, not plush. (I find the plusher kind, that looks like indoor residential carpet, also is slippery on steps.) My coop did flat commercial on our hall stairs, and it looked great even years later. We started having it cleaned professionally every year or so, and it came out great every time.
For inside a home, I agree, only wool is good. (The jute/hemp/sisals are nice, but aren’t soft enough for my bare feet.) The residential synthetics outgas bad stuff. My parents got new carpet that I couldn’t sit on for YEARS without coughing – luckily it was long after I left home.
nyone have any thoughts on carpeting stairs with something that isn’t (1) toxic and (2) hideously expensive? I need to carpet the public hallway — stairs are just too yucky to sand — but most carpeting is made out of recycled Coke bottles, lots of bad stuff, unless you go for wool. Have looked into jute/hemp/sisal/etc., but am informed that they get “slippery” over time — not good for stairs. Any thoughts?
If your stairs are nice hardwood now, do consider doing a runner up them, leaving a small strip of wood on each side, rather than carpeting the whole thing. It’s a nicer look with hardwood floors (I always find the transition from hardwood to fully carpeted stairs a bit of an odd look), and likely easier to change when you want to. Don’t know for sure, as I never had one, but might be easier to remove for heavy duty cleaning if you need to clean it. Often see them held on with brass rods (not cheap, those, but nice looking), but not always.
If your landings are also nice hardwood, might be nice to give them the rug over pad treatment, leaving a wood edge around the rug there as well. You can have the same carpeting bound as a rug, or get a different but complementary rug.
As someone who is allergic to stuff that gets trapped in carpets over time in some homes, I like the ability to pick up freestanding rugs and shake them, and also to be able to send them out for cleaning and thorough drying by rug professionals. Also easier to replace when worn – no labor to install. I notice those who have carpets cleaned with water have trouble with drying sometimes, resulting in mold growing sometimes. Never with rugs you can pick up and send out.
With a toddler, you are likely to have more spills on rugs, as well as wanting to keep them cleaner than most need to, as they will rub a face in them, and also pick things up off them constantly and put them in their mouths.
Sound like an OCD/germ freak here, which I am decidedly not – I just know friends with toddlers keep floors and rugs much cleaner than most, including me. Mainly, I just have a weakness for beautiful oriental rugs – runner versions of which look great on stairs.
Jessenyc,
I know what you mean but we’ve been giving some thought to the stairs for a while. My wife and I both like the look and feel and it will help with the safety of the little one when he does fully begin to walk. The rest of the house is hardwood so he’ll have enough to bang around on. We did, however, buy one of those foldable blue gym mats. It’s really great. It has double duty as our stretching mat before a workout and his playmat.
Hey NewDad,
Just a thought – you prob don’t need to rush the carpeting just yet. I went through a similar choice a few months back when my little guy started crawling. The folks here actually talked me out of thinking I had to do the carpeting deal. Babies aren’t as delicate as you’d (or I had) think, and the hardwood gives them something to bang their toys on. I ended up just getting a Skip Hop foam floor mat for part of the living room and he loves it. Also, you prob doing need to carpet the stairs b/c the baby shouldn’t be anywhere need them for a year or so anyway.
There’s also Better Carpet Warehouse on Atlantic. I looked into getting my hall stairs carpeted a few years ago and thought they had a decent selection and good prices. They’re also nice people.
We had very nice carpeting installed by Einstein Moomjay many years ago on the stairs. It was a good quality carpet, and they did a great installation. We used brass backings on each step. It has never worn out or loosened, so the installation was very good. I know they closed some showrooms in NJ, but I believe they still have one in Manhattan.
Deanbh Thanks for the info. I am doing my research , but what does it mean when you say “roll”. additionally, what brand ofcarpet did you end up putting down ? We have 12 steps and 2 landings to work on.What do you think a good price would be?
We just went through this for the public hallway areas of our 4 story co-op.
Lowes was the cheapest but at the last minute i got outvoted and we ended up with a 50% more expensive carpet from Flooring 23 which is OK BUT they didn’t roll the edges on the stairs as they quoted claiming it wasn’t possible with the carpet we chose even though they quoted to do this. (unfortunately i didn’t notice until they had 2 of the 4 stair areas cut).
it’s not really noticeable but for the extra we paid for installation it bugs me.
would i use them again….sure but i’d make sure they rolled the stairs properly as quoted.