[notsohandymary]

Hi all,
I need advice. I have carpeted stairs that have carpet around the banisters (main problem). How can I replace the carpet with laminate without having to tear down the splinters? Would it be tacky to cut the wood with shapes to cover areas around the splinters?

Any instructions or creative ideas are welcome. Thanks!!!

Here is a little more info. We like to replace the whole house with laminate. Underneath our e carpet is not hardwood so we cannot just tear out the carpet and refinish the floor.

 

[zakany]

I'm going to face the same issue with my stairs, although I am going to paint them and not cover them with laminate.

In your case, I don't see an alternative to removing the banister and spindles. You can certainly try to notch your laminate and dress the interface with some caulking, though. I don't think it will be as clean as an R&R on the banister.

 

[Canarywood1]

You'll have to remove the spindles to install the laminate,and you will also have to shorten the spindles when you reinstall them,the same thickness of the laminate.

 

[joecaption]

Laminite should never be installed on stairs !!!
It has to be able to expand and contract.
If you want wood looking treads then go with real wood treads.
You do know by using laminite it's going to do nothing to increase the value of the home, right.

 

[Awoodfloorguy]

I bet you have wooden stair treads under that carpet. Why not remove the carpet, take a piece of the laminate you are installing to sherwin williams and get them to stain match it. Then sand and refinish the stairs. You can even paint the risers to make this go a lot easier. This will be much more durable, avoid taking out the railing/spindles, and look better. Hope this helps.

 

[zakany]

It sounds like the OP has pine treads and that she doesn't want to replace them.

I have somewhat the same issue (I have a curved staircase, which makes tread replacement pretty costly) and my approach will be taupe porch paint on the treads, Duration extra white on the risers and trim. I may even paint the banisters to match (they're a gunstock oak, which is a color we have no where else in the home).

I think that painting is a better solution than laminate (e.g. how are you going to bullnose the tread edges with laminate?). The thing that makes me shy away from stain is that you might get it to almost match, you'll have to sand off the overspray that the builder most likely left on the stairs, you'll have to deal with a thousand staple holes, etc. It's certainly not impossible, and I imagine that top coating with several films of water-borne flooring urethane will provide a wear-resistant surface.

Seriously, I love that stuff (water-based urethane). With two coats a day, you can have six coats in three days; done. Only takes an hour or two to dry. Just sand and clean between each coat with progressively finer sandpaper. Easy.

Maybe it's just me, but I've never liked the look of pre-finished flooring on stairs. It just looks - wrong. Tacky, even. I'm replacing carpet with hickory and for $25 each I just bought hickory treads. Stairs should look like stairs and floors like floors.

 

[notsohandymary]

Thanks!

Thanks, everyone, for all your insights! Will keep you guys posted. Hope you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!!