Hello All,

I am installing my Kahrs engineered hardwood on the stairs. I am planning to glue it down using Bostiks Best, but wanted to know two things.

1. When gluing the stair treat and bullnose, what is the proper way to attach it? Should I blind nail the tread, then put a bead of glue under the stairnose and put that on? Do I nail the stairnose, and if so, how? I am keeping my old risers and painting, so I won't be able to conceal any nails.

2. The stairs lead up to a small hallway that connects bedrooms that are carpeted. The hallway is about ~3ft x 10ft. Should I glue the hardwood up there as well, or just nail it down? If just nailing down, how do I connect to the glued stairnose on the top step? If gluing, any special considerations?

Thanks a lot for the help!

stair kits can be obtained more reasonably than previously and offer a beautiful end result. these kits are a two piece system consisting of a tread and a riser. the immense labor involved in covering steps with actual planks should be near obsolete. this eliminates costly stair nosing and are fairly easy to install. you also eliminate worries about stability of stairnosing. prefinished and unfinished kits made of the same species should provide you with a good match to your floor material. Here in the Midwest they are available at retail for around sixty dollars a stair and the money stays on the floor as opposed to forty dollars and up just for a stairnose piece that will probably only do two stairs. add in the cost of your wood and the labor involved and its a no brainer. I know this doesn't answer your question directly but think this is a better end result and more likely successful for the first time stair installer.

as far as fastening the wood in the hallway I would check manufacturers specs and follow them closely to keep any warranties intact. interior walls and hallways tend to be less "straight" so installation in this area may not be square to your top step. some cutting of the first row may be necessary and I would just glue down the connecting board in such a case. however I myself don't trust a glue only stair nose. I would use construction adhesive and face nail a couple of hand driven high guage finish nails. a little filler should take care of the holes. I may be wrong but I feel as if though the nose takes a lot of impact and want sure footing for my customers and loved ones on hardwood stairs.

I agree with floormech, to much waste using stairnose and planks. As far as glueing upstairs on a subfloor i would throw down another sheet of underlayment and fasten it if the manufacturer says it can be fastened. You don't want to glue to the original subfloor.