I'm in the process of removing the carpeting from the stairs leading from the main floor to the second floor. The staircase is constructed with very nice oak so I'm simply sanding and sealing the treads and painting the risers. The second floor currently has carpeting which I'm going to remove and replace with hardwood floors (standard 3/4" depth). The problem is that the top tread of the staircase is a bullnose transition piece that is level with the subfloor. They just covered it with carpet. How do I transition the new hardwood floor (which will be 3/4" higher) with the top tread of the staircase? I can't just lay down the usual bullnose transition piece over the current one and I don't want the floor to dip at that point (that's for sure). Any help would be a godsend ... this is my first hardwood floor laying project and this question has me stumped.

Cut the nose over hang off and place a stairnosing on the top, to start the new wood.

That will make the first riser to be 3/4" higher than the rest of the risers. Will that be a problem?

Right now, or before you pulled the carpet and padding off the step. It added height, did it not? Your removing the carpet and padding height and replacing it with the height of the wood.

I don't see it being a big concern. Codes here allow ¾" step variations in height.

Thank you for the help. I agree, I don't think that 3/4" step variation is that big a concern but I wanted to ask someone who knew more about it than I did!

I do end up with the 3/4" variance at the top. By removing the padding and carpet from the steps, I've reduced the height by 3/4" on each step. So when I add back the 3/4" at the top for the thickness of the wood flooring, it replaces the 3/4" (or so) that was previously provided by the padding and carpeting there. But I'm not adding anything back to the other treads so they'll stay 3/4" lower. This gives me 7 9/16" height from tread to tread except for the top measurement, which will be 3/4" more. I don't think people will notice. I still have the carpeting at the top of the stairs now and I can't tell a difference when I hit the next tread to go down the steps. It all seems the same.

Thanks again!