Hello, I am new to this forum, and an inexperienced woodworker taking on replacing the stair carpet with red oak treads and riser. The stair leads to the garage. There is soil outside the adjacent wall and the landing at the bottom of the stair is concrete, and below the soil level. I would like to also replace the existing carpet of the landing with some of the left over wood floor planks. The area of the landing is less than 10 square feet.

At first I wanted to just glue my 5" solid birch planks on the landing's concrete. After reading some of the forum threads, I am beginning to think that directly gluing the solid wood may not be feasible. I have some basic questions and would appreciate some guidance from the experienced forum members.

Since this is a small area, can I glue the solid wood directly onto the concrete with a moisture barrier glue, or do I need to install a floating floor even for such a small area? I was told by the flooring seller that the kind of solid wood I have is approved for gluing directly onto concrete.
If not, can I first glue a 5/8 inch plywood (3/4 inch is just a hair to high for the garage door to open and close) then nail the hardwood planks onto the plywood?
If not, can I glue some left over engineered wood planks and then nail the hardwood planks onto the engineered wood (the engineered wood is not the same color as the stair treads)?
If not, can I glue strips of the plywood or engineered wood and then nail the hardwood onto the strips?

I'm asking these questions because I know very little about wood planks on concrete. Thanks in advance for your help.

Cool

Less than ten square feet? I'd say go for it, glue it down. But I gotta wonder where and why Birch? The staircase is Red Oak.

Hello Ken, thanks for the quick response. I was using some leftover planks from liquidators called cocoa birch (I don't know if it is in fact birch or not). The red oak treads and risers are unfinished and I will stain them to match the cocoa birch color. That is how the rest of the floor and the stairs were laid in the house, and I am just trying to keep it consistent.

Would it make any difference (better or worse) if I first glue over the concrete a piece of plywood or the leftover engineered wood planks (I gathered enough scraps) and then glue the cocoa birch solid over it?

Cool

I'm trying to figure out why. I'm having difficulties picturing this. Is this a concrete stairway? Have any pictures?

Hello Ken, I do have a picture that will help explain better, but I don't know how to attach it to the post. There is no option to attach a file.

Ken, As you can see there is the door on the right into the garage.

Oh. I thought it was a raised landing.

Personally I'd just glue it direct and forget about any plywood or otherwise. Gluing short pieces (as it looks in the picture) will make that work. It's an entry from a garage so it doesn't have to be perfect...or does it?

Also what was the condition before the carpet came up? Any water stains, mildewy smells? If the answer is no, you should be okay. That's the best I can do with the information provided.

Just glue directly to the concrete. I have done the same without any problems. But I would go in the other direction, I just like to see it going across when I come down stairs.

Hi Ken and Jeff,

Thanks for the replies and encouragement. To answer your question, I just got the house not too long ago. It was built in 1986 and the carpet seemed original. The carpet was old and smelly but I wouldn't say it's mildewy. I've had the carpet removed for about five months and have not noticed any moisture. It certainly doesn't have to be perfect at all. So I will just glue the planks down. Will take me a while, working a bit at a time, but will post the finished product. Thanks again for the guidance.

Cool