Ways to Match Your Hardwood Stairs and Floor Part I

So you’ve spent countless months picking out your brand new hardwood floor. Now it is time for more fun. You have to start thinking about the hardwood stars that you will be required to install!

That sounds like a lot of fun. After all, hardwood floors are a stable foundation for an overall design. You want them to be as warm and inviting as possible.

The stairway you decide on needs to blend into the floor and be inviting as well. Subtle things like the grain direction, perceived strength and construction, wood contour, and finish colors and textures have a huge impact on the user’s perspective of quality and beauty in the finished stairway.

Our stair contracts provide you with some very useful information to consider as you plan on your upcoming staircase design.

Wood Grain

The wood grain direction is one of the strongest and most visual cues you have when laying out a floor into a stairway. This is because oru eyes love to find patterns and a soft flowing pattern of grain in a new pre-finished hardwood floor. But if this leads the eye into a space where the grain direction stops and runs perpendicular to the hardwood floor, it creates an abrupt barrier that disturb the overall flow and design of the space.

The first stair tread should have a grain that runs parallel with the floor to give people an invitation to continue. Bowed and curved steps are basically more grand and the convex shape tells the mind that the transition is soft and acceptable.

Construction

Simple stairways have a minimum number of elements and are great for designers when they want to put the emphasis of the house on the space. However, when you design a stairway with an overly simplified design the mind has concern for safety. A design may conform to code and may meet all the of the mechanical requirements, but do the users find it comforting and strong? That’s an important question you’ll have to ask yourself.

Always be sure to design a staircase that promotes a feeling of quality and stability, and factoring in elements that match the scale and quality of the rest of the design with a modified hand-rail design or thicker custom treads, that can provide an added touch of luxury and personalization.

Three Endless Designs for your Staircase Remodeling Project

View fullsize

Do you happen to live in a big house? Maybe your house is two stories? If you decide to remodel your home, be sure to give your staircase some thought. This is because the design possibilities are literally endless when it comes to remodeling a staircase. Your staircase could be either hardwood or carpeted.

If you are replacing carpeted stairs or building a hardwood staircase from scratch, then you must know that hardwood steps don’t necessarily have to be built the traditional way. Our stairbuilders have three terrific ideas to give you stairs some personality:

Decorate

Consider putting tile on the hardwood staircase to create a very unique look. It can help prevent scuff marks. If you want to be creative, then paint them. You can use a solid color to match or contrast your walls. You can even create a fun design like a faux carpet, numbers or nature.

Use the banister

Whether a curvy and whimsical or straight with vertical and horizontal lines, an interesting banister can transform your wood staircase into a work of art. Although it’s generally best to pick a design that complements the staircase. Some homeowners choose to be bold and contrast with their steps to create a stunning look. Don’t be scared to add texture or possibly incorporate different materials such as glass, rope or steel.

Make it freestanding

Although most hardwood staircases are generally against a wall, you could also build your steps as if it’s a center stage. Take your time to think about other shapes that are curved, spiral or switchback. Then put them in the middle of the space to divide a large room while giving an open feel.

So if you’re ready to transform your old carpeted stairs into a fresh, new hardwood staircase then you definitely want to talk to a stair contract to figure out the best way of doing so. Find out how we can help you enhance your stair project.

Refinishing and Re-screening your Hardwood Stairs

How can you take care of your hardwood stairs? It doesn’t matter how informed you are about caring for your hardwood stairs, all it takes to get your home’s staircases looking as beautiful as new is hardwood floor sanding and refinishing. Here’s what you need to know about hardwood stairs refinishing:

If your hardwood staircases have serious problems, such as deep scratches and gouges or water damage, then sanding and refinishing is something you definitely want to consider. You can also replace boards to match the existing staircase.

If your staircase needs minor work, then you should look into re-screening your hardwood stairs. Re-screening typically involves buffing and screening the stairs with an open mesh screen. It will eliminate most of the scratches. This type of process usually roughs up the existing polyurethane finish by applying new finish over the top. This type of service will need to be polyurethane, not aluminum oxide. It’s also much more economical than a full finish and stain, for best results on your hardwood stairs, you’ll need to maintain good hardwood floor care habits.

From refinishing, sanding and stair building, Beach City Stairs is here to help! Contact us today for more advice on your staircase project.

Custom Staircase Remodel with Tile Risers in La Jolla Ca

Beach City Stairs wanted to say Thank you to the Petersons for allowing up to be apart of your Custom Staircase Remodel. It was a pleasure coming up with the custom stair design and watching it come to life. This project that incorporated tile and wood came out better that I had envisioned.

The Highest Quality Stair Builder

THE BEACH CITY STAIRS DIFFERENCE!
What Is your biggest concern, goal or objective?

What is most important to you. Quality or cost?

5/4 vs. 4/4
5/4 wood is 1″ thick, the reason we choose to use this is because when you use thinner wood you have the chance of the wood cupping. Even though 5/4 wood is Beach city stairs’ standard, We are willing to use 4/4 material however it is recommended to use 5/4 due to better performance and longevity.

Color selected wood vs. unit purchase                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Every job that goes through Beach City Stairs is carefully hand selected for color, grain and natural beauty. When you purchase wood without careful selection you in a sense are forced to use that in someone’s home.

Pl premium vs. liquid nails or others
Pl premium is one of the strongest adhesives on the market today. It is used To assure that your staircase performs the lifetime of the home and there is no customer service issues down the road. Beach City Stairs uses the PL premium adhesive not only because it is over three times stronger than other leading brands. The reason for this is to eliminate squeaks creeks and failure of your stair components.
(when you walk on a staircase with 5/4 tread and PL premium there is an obvious quality)

Solid rail vs. engineered
Beach City Stairs railing of choice is clear solid rail that is made here in the USA. Engineer rail is an imported handrail from China that often times will have a seam in the middle of the handrail. Unfortunately many customers are given this without the understanding that there is different types.

Solid iron vs. hollow
When it comes to using Iron balusters, there are two main choices either you use solid Iron or Hollow Iron. The major differences in our opinion is that the hollow iron may sometimes look to perfect leaving out some of the natural character on iron. With solid iron balusters you can see, feel and appreciate the quality that is has. This is one of the ways people save some money is using hollow iron balusters. Beach City Stairs chooses not to use hollow balusters because solid iron has the authentic feel and elegance that a customer deserves when investing good money on a custom stair project.

Professional finisher vs. someone staining
To make sure that your product is not only installed well using quality products but also finished and painted well. Beach City Stairs only uses industry professionals who have been primarily doing staircase finishing for 12-26 years. Part of the reason you have a long life of the staircase and railings solely dependent on the quality of the finish. This is what allows your staircase to maintain its beautiful luster for many years.

Team effort vs. one man operation
At Beach city stairs you’re working with a team of guys who have been hand selected. Instead of working with only one person, you have access to everybody in the company to make sure that your project goes without any delays. You will know that you have somebody that you can count on at all times if ever you had a questions or concern.

Custom application vs. off the shelf
Everyone of our staircases are custom designed not to fit our own personal taste but to complement both the customer as well as the home. The posts, rail, balusters and thickness of woods that are chosen are often times a higher quality or more custom than what many people in the industry choose to use. When somebody is investing money to improve their home we feel that it is an opportunity to provide something that you won’t find in every other house.

“I hope that in reading this you feel confident in Beach City Stairs and know that we have your best interest in mind!”

Sincerely,
Kevin Label -Owner
714-721-6075