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Stairs are a difficult thing to figure out how to finish when installing laminate flooring throughout your home. Do you leave them carpeted? Do you use the overlap stair nose and use laminate on the steps? How about the “retread” option that sits on top of the existing treads? Or, do you shell out the big bucks and use the new aluminum sub-profiles that allow for a flush nose with laminate? What we found was the best option, for our budget of course, was to only use the sub-profile option at the landings and on the two steps leading into our living room and kitchen. On the actual staircase we went a different route, to save $1,500.
I didn’t want the steps to be bare wood, as we have dogs and kids that run up and down the stairs all day, and I wasn’t keen on the injuries that would ensue from having no carpet. When I worked for a custom home builder back in the day, many homeowners would do a faux wood tread look. Having only the stained wood portion for about 5 inches on either side of the step, and then carpet would be attached down the middle like a runner, but it was not wood underneath, just the particle board. I figured I could do something like this for our steps. I looked for a way to use the retro-fit treads and cut them down to be 5 inches wide. However, then we would have to hire our someone to carpet the middle, because a runner possibly wouldn’t have been thick enough to fill the depth. Then, I had a brilliant idea! I could use pressure sensitive veneer to wrap the treads!
I needed extremely thin veneer to be able to bend the veneer around the bullnose of the tread. After much research, I ended up purchasing three rolls of this veneer and a rubber roller. (Sorry, I don’t have the before pics with the carpet. I ALWAYS forget to take them because I am eager to get to work!) Once the carpet was torn up and all the staples were removed, I checked for any bumps or holes that would need fixing before the veneer could go on. After those were addressed, it was time to clean the steps and remove all the debris and fine particulates that could cause problems with the adhesion of the veneer. Crazy as this sounds, each staircase section was a different width; we have U-shaped stairs. So, each section required different widths of veneer to be cut.
The veneer comes in rolls, so I would unroll it and cut my strips, using sharp scissors, perpendicular to the grain of the veneer so that it could bend around the bullnose. The riser was a separate piece from the tread. For instance, I would cut a strip 6 inches wide off the roll, then cut that piece into two pieces one for the tread and one for the riser. This ensured that each piece was the exact width to match the treads and risers where they met. This stuff won’t move around once it touches the step, so I had to be very careful there were no gaps when lining it up against the stair stinger. Then I used the rubber roller to press it down firmly to the tread and riser. When I wrapped the bullnose, I would start from the edge of the tread and then use my hand to press the veneer against the bullnose as it wrapped around, to get a tight fit with no air bubbles or gaps. The grain of the veneer would just barely split on the curves, and I mean, just barely, so I gently hit them with a 120grit sandpaper and smoothed out the edges. Worked like a charm!
Once the veneer was down, all I had to do was give a delicate sanding before staining and sealing with a satin polyurethane. I used an extra fine sanding block, so I wouldn’t accidently remove too much of the veneer surface. Here’s what it looked like after being stained:
31 Downing Street 