Would like to pull up carpet and have hardwood stairs installed. What is the concensus for the style of the riser board? Painted white or hardwood? What looks better? Which would be more expensive if using a contractor? Thanks in advance.

It would depend on how formal you want it to look. IE if you have a foyer with wood floors and painted casings, base and skirtboards using painted risers would probably fit in better. But I have done it both ways.

Stained oak risers I use riser stock that is glued up boards that look like solid oak. Same way the 1 piece oak treads are made. You can buy solid 1x8 oak S4S in random lengths but it will add considerably to the price.

Painted risers I use either poplar or primed MDF.

Their is not a huge difference in the material cost either way unless you went with the real solid oak S4S.

Jerry T,

Thanks for the helpful information. Is there a general rule of thumb for a consumer to estimate the job cost of hardwood stairs, eg. number of steps/landings, etc.?

Hi Timm,

There are a lot of variables that go in ball parking a price for hardwood stairs.

I will attempt to list a few,

Need to know how many risers you have
One straight run of steps, or a split foyer layout
Any landings or "winders" to deal with
Are the steps boxed in by walls, if so are there skirtboards in place already
Any open ended treads with newel posts, balusters and railings to deal with, if so on one side or both sides.
What do you have now, IE carpet over pine treads, carpet over plywood

That is off the top of my head, any other info would be helpful.

Jerry,

I will post back with that info. Thanks.