Hi all,

I'm doing my research before I start my wood floor installation of my 2nd story (about 1500 sqft) and stairs. Right now, that floor is all covered in carpet. The sub floor is 1" OSB. I live in relatively dry & hot central valley California. The first floor is mostly tile (where the stairs land) except 1 room and another room's closet in which I've installed laminate (click type) flooring. We want to go with maple wood flooring, either select or natural to match the rest of the house's wood work.

I'm particularly struggling with how to deal with our starting step. I've been told by 3 installers and 2 hardwood flooring retailers that they won't do the rounded bull nose starting step. They want to either cut it off entirely, or miter it with 22.5 degree turns. Neither is what we want. I've seen this type of rounded starting step many places on the net, and in a number of books. So, at this point I'm leaning towards attempting to build it myself along with the rest of the flooring job (used to be a rough framer, so some wood working skills...just not a lot of finish work besides the laminate, some chair rails, molding etc.) using a router with a bull nose bit.

What I'm wondering is:
1. Is solid hardwood the answer for steps like this? Or can engineered wood work as well? We don't have a preference, just that if both could be used reliably it would give us more choices. I'm concerned the engineered stuff might break down on that staring step, being radius bull nose cut.
2. Should I go with a 1 piece plank and make the cut out and radius? Or can strips be glued together strong enough to make a 1 piece to be cut? If I go with a single piece, I'm thinking it wouldn't look as consistent as I've been unable to find a place that sells either a kit (like below) or a single piece along with the 1/8" plywood (for the riser to wrap around) along with stairs for the rest of the stairs and flooring for the rest of the job. B.T.W. all the rest of the stairs have each side butt up against an already installed stringer (so no exposed stair end).

In the end, we would like for the stairs and the upper floor wood to be exact, but if that can't be done because of the starting step restrictions, they can be different but hopefully pretty close.

Here is an image of a kit (and what I'm looking to do), that is exactly what our starting step looks like only that we currently have carpet on the original osb rough framed step, and we have 1 large square newel that is attached to it near where the cutout starts (base of radius):



Sorry to ramble, but I wanted to get as much info on my situation out there up front.

Any suggestions on how to deal with a starting step like that and consistency throughout the rest of the job?



Thanks!

I always thought you bought that stair already milled (one piece).

thanks for the reply.

so you think essentially everyone has that step custom made, and then all the rest of the steps would be obtained (presumably) from the same company so as to keep the wood as similar as possible?

I've thought about contacting a local cabinet maker that has made some maple cabinets for us. Perhaps he would sell me some maple planks as well as plywood. However, then I'd be concerned about the top coat finish. What about that? Is it possible to purchase something like the Aluminum Oxide many co's use for the scratch/dent resistant surface? Is that sort of thing difficult to work with or apply?

I would guess that 9 times out of 10 if you saw a maple starting step online in a a photo, it was purchased that way. There are companies offering stair components in various species.

You can buy them as a kit. But around here, they are usually custom made for the job. It is quite simple really. One simply buys a solid tread at the total length of that starter step then buy another 3' tread. Cut the 3'er in half and biscuit to the back edge of each end of the full tread. Draw the radius and cut with a jig saw. Rout over each end to match the round over of the tread and sand. That's it. Curved nosings are actually more of a hassle, especially if they are long and are a gradual elipse. While the curved nosings and stairs need to be made, you can use pre-finished flooring upstairs. My preference would be a solid, nailed down. It will require lots of skill to run the flooring into a curved stair nose. Templates need to be made and you'll need a router. I've done it but only with unfinished flooring, which is easier, IMO. The only company offering an enhanced alum. oxide finish that I'm aware of is Trex Plus.

thanks for the information guys. Gary, looks like I'll wind up getting the pre-finished solid tread either from a local source or from the net and route that starting step piece as you've mentioned. Then, use pre-finished ready to go stuff for the upper floor even though it won't be an exact color/species match since I've convinced myself the entire job doesn't need to be made from the same wood. The stairs can be slightly different.

Thanks again!