Spring in Your Step: Stairway Treads
It’s often said that bathrooms and kitchens sell a house. They’re the two rooms you should spend the most time and money on, so that when you put your house on the market, you’ll get the most bang for your buck. However, if you’ve been house hunting and walked into a house with a staircase, you know the value of spending a bit of time updating the look of your stairs.
There’s nothing worse than an outdated stairway greeting you when you walk through the front door, it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth and sours the entire experience. If you’re not selling your house, that’s fine. Instead think about how amazing it will feel entering your home each day after updating your stairway treads. If you entertain often, guests will appreciate a beautifully updated stairway!
What are stair treads?
Your staircase or stairway has different parts to it. Each part has to work together to create a visually appealing experience for your eyes. It all starts with a stringer. The stringer supports each side of a staircase, and it’s what the flat treads and risers attach to in order to form them. Handrails and balusters are also added to staircases to make them functional and safe.
What are risers and treads?
You can have a set of stairs with closed tread risers where you can’t see through the back of the staircase. Or, for a more modern look, a staircase can be built without risers between the treads. The space is there, but nothing is placed in the open space between the treads.
The treads are the flat horizontal part of the stairs that people step on to climb up or go down a stairway. Without them, you really can’t have a functioning set of steps!
How Can You Refresh Your Stairs?
How can you update your staircase for a big “wow” factor, without killing your home improvement budget? Especially if you’re doing updates to put it on the market!
Remove Carpeting
If you have closed tread risers with carpet on them, one of the best ways to freshen them up is to remove the carpet. It will take a bit of sweat equity, for sure, but the stunning result will be worth it. Just make sure you have a solid plan for what you want to do AFTER the carpet is removed.
Stain or Paint Treads
If you had carpet, and it’s been removed, now’s the time to choose whether you want to stain or paint the stair treads. A popular trend these days is to stain the treads, but instead of staining the risers people paint them. Then they get creative with the balusters and handrails.
Install Flexible Trim
Finishing off your stairs can sometimes be a challenge. Wood trim can be expensive, especially in our current economy. It’s also messy to install between the cutting, staining, and painting - it’s a chore to cover the crack between the stairs and the wall. Or, if your treads hang over the stringer, finishing the stair edge with a bit of flexible trim is much easier with flexible trim like InstaTrim.
Variety of Universal Trim Solution Colors
Whether you paint your treads, or stain them, there’s a variety of colors of universal trim solution. However, if you’re not sure which color would be the best option, we’re excited to provide a sample kit to check out each InstaTrim color option. We want our customers to have access to the perfect tools to improve their homes and the perfect tool should always be the right color for your project!
