Outdoor carpet is very thin and durable and appropriate for use in a laundry room or basement, as well as on stairs. Installing it on stairs requires stapling it, or gluing with a flooring adhesive. Stapling is quicker and cleaner, but a glue-down installation is more permanent.
Because the stairs get the heaviest footfall, the carpet needs to be hard-wearing enough to stand up to such wear and tear. It should be easy to clean and resistant to dirt and other stains. And for safety, it can't be too thick that it causes you to trip on your way down.
The best carpet for stairs has a low pile—¾-inch or less—to be both more stable underfoot and resilient to traffic. A synthetic plush style in twisted or cut pile is always a safe option, while a looped style like Berber is occasionally avoided (particularly if you have pets whose claws may catch in the carpet loops).
Staircases get a lot of use and are probably the highest-traffic area of any home, so you need to choose a carpet that can withstand the attention and still look wonderful.
For homes with carpeting, carpet stairs will flow better. For homes with wood floors, a carpeted staircase can feel outdated and out of place.
How much carpeting for 13 stairs? You'll need between 80 and 110 square feet for 13 stairs.
Carpet is the Safer Choice
If you've got small children or elderly members of your family using the stairs often then carpeted stairs is recommended. Hardwood floors can become dangerous if there is anything spilled on them. If you do trip or fall, hardwood will cause more injury than carpet.
Ceramic is the most common and recommended tile material for stair risers as it's much more durable than porcelain or glass. One thing to note is that tiles are much heavier than other materials on this list, creating limits as to where tile stairs can be installed in your home.
Gluing Down Carpet
Glue can keep the stair carpet firmly in place. First, lay out the carpet and any padding. Once it is all in place, seams flush and no overlapping or short lengths of carpet exposed, you can begin to glue the carpet down. If using a pad, glue that down first and then glue the carpet to the pad.
In short, it is possible to place carpet over carpet without sacrificing style or the resale value of your home. Doing so can be an inexpensive way to update your room and add a fresh pop of color, but there are some factors to consider before doing so.
The truth is that Berber can be used on stairs and can look quite beautiful, provided that it is of proper quality. When people pick up a Berber carpet sample and bend it backward, they are sometimes able to see the backing between the rows.
For busier areas like the hallway or the stairs we recommend a wool carpet with its hard wearing and long lasting nature. For an area like your living room, a polypropylene carpet is best with its highly stain resistant and easy to clean nature.
Saxony carpet is a cut loop pile carpet. Its pile is designed to be incredibly dense, for a soft feeling underfoot. This makes it popular for bedrooms and living rooms. Sometimes Saxony carpets are called a plush carpet, based on the luxurious style and feel.
Important Safety Notice: When installing LifeProof flooring on staircases, both the stair treads and risers should be permanently bonded using a recommended Roberts adhesive. Under no circumstances should LifeProof be installed on steps or risers without being fully bonded as this may result in an unsafe condition.
You'll need a piece of carpet the width of the widest stair, plus a few extra inches to wrap around the outer edge. Finally, if your stairs have a nose on the front of the tread that overhangs the riser, you'll need to add another three inches to the 18” of tread plus riser.
Carpet on stairs lasts an average of 7 to 10 years. Nylon, one of the most popular carpet materials for stairs, can last anywhere from 5-15 years. Not all carpets or households are created equal though, and the following factors will have an impact on how long your carpet lasts: Quality and material.
Best for Cost and Installation: Carpeted stairs
There is a significant difference between the cost of carpeted stairs and hardwood stairs. If you're on a tight budget, carpeting is the way to go. Expect to pay two to three times more for the beauty of hardwood compared to carpeting.
When to Add Carpeting to Stairs
It is difficult to fix unattractive stairs because they do not lend themselves to painting. Carpet works wonders on stairs like this. Beautiful hardwood stairs will be ruined by the addition of carpeting because the tack strips need to be nailed down, creating holes in the wood.
Put simply, the price of carpet is usually expressed in square yards. As a quick refresher in math, remember a yard is 3 feet so a square yard equals 3 feet by 3 feet or 9 square feet.
Stairs: Runs/treads and landings both count in square footage totals. They are measured as a part of the floor “from which they descend,” so are generally counted twice in a typical two-story home with a basement.