Stairs and Commercial Wood Floors

A staircase is almost all edge work done by hand, on a surface the household cannot stop using. A gymnasium floor has to reopen on a fixed date, with game lines reproduced correctly inside the coating sequence.

Why stairs cost more per square foot than floors

A staircase inverts the ratio of field to edge — almost every surface is a corner, a nosing or a detail worked by hand.

A floor is mostly open area a machine covers quickly, with perimeter work at the edges. On a staircase there is no open area at all.

Balusters that cannot be removed turn each tread into hand work around obstructions, and that is before the risers.

The household still has to use them

Work is staged in sections or on alternating treads so there is always a usable route, which extends the schedule.

Finish cure schedules have to account for traffic that cannot be avoided. This is the practical reason a staircase takes longer than its square footage suggests.

Painted risers and lead-safe rules

In pre-1978 housing, risers, stringers and balusters are frequently the largest area of painted surface disturbed in a flooring project.

This is a question to settle before work starts, not during it. Given that roughly 65% of homes in our service area predate 1978, it comes up constantly.

Commercial work runs backward from the date

On a gymnasium or a studio, the return-to-service date is fixed first and the finish system is chosen to fit inside it.

A finish that needs more cure days than the closure allows is the wrong finish, however well it performs.

Game lines sit within the coating build — over sealed wood, under the final coats. Getting that order wrong means redoing the floor, not touching up the lines.

Treads, risers and what can be replaced separately

Treads can usually be replaced individually without rebuilding the staircase, though matching an existing profile and nosing takes care.

Risers are simpler and are often painted rather than finished, which is precisely why they carry the lead question in older houses.

Where a carpet is coming off a staircase, what is underneath is frequently construction-grade material never meant to be seen. That is a replacement conversation, not a refinishing one, and it is better to find out before the carpet comes up.

Slip resistance on stairs

Stairs concentrate wear in a narrow path and the nosing takes the worst of it, so a very high-gloss finish there is a decision worth making deliberately.

Gloss level affects perceived slipperiness and shows wear faster on a tread than on a flat floor. Matte and satin hide the traffic path better and are the more common choice on stairs even when the adjoining floor is glossier.

Frequently asked questions