What carpet do I need for stairs?
Stairs concentrate all the wear onto the nosing of each tread and put the carpet round a tight bend. What that means for pile, density, direction and underlay.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 20 min
- Read
- 2 min
- Safety
- caution
Short answer
Choose a dense, short twist pile in a heavy-domestic wear rating, on a firm rather than thick underlay. Run the pile direction down the flight, not across it. Avoid long pile, loop pile with cats, and any carpet specified for light domestic use. Buy extra for a future re-lay that shifts the wear points.
Every step concentrates the whole load of a footfall onto the front few centimetres of the tread, and the carpet there is wrapped around a right angle under tension. That is the harshest treatment carpet gets anywhere in a house, and it is why a carpet that is perfectly good in a bedroom fails on a staircase in two years.
Safety
Step by step
- Specify for heavy domestic use as a minimum.Not general domestic. Stairs and halls are the two places in a house where the wear rating is not a marketing number.
- Choose density over softness.Bend a sample back. On a stair carpet you want to see as little backing as possible, because the nosing wears through a thin pile very quickly.
- Choose a short twist pile.Short, dense and twisted holds its shape at the nosing and hides footmarks. Long pile flattens on the nosing and looks worn almost immediately.
- Be careful with loop pile.It is very hardwearing on stairs, which is why it is popular, but a snagged loop runs and stairs are where claws and heels catch. In a house with cats, cut pile is the safer choice.
- Run the pile down the flight.Pile has a direction, and it should run down the stairs — so that a hand stroked downwards runs with the pile. This wears better, shades consistently and looks right from the bottom, which is the view that matters.
- Use a firm underlay, not a thick one.A dense crumb rubber or a firm PU underlay. Thick soft underlay lets the carpet move over the nosing, which both wears it out and makes the stair feel insecure underfoot.
- Decide on a pattern with care.A striped or strongly patterned stair carpet has to be aligned on every tread and around every winder, which is skilled work and generates significant waste. Ask the fitter what it adds before committing.
- Buy extra length.Stair carpet wears at the nosing. A fitter can lift and re-lay a stair carpet shifted by a tread's depth, moving the wear points onto fresh pile, and that doubles the life — but only if there is spare length to do it with.
- Think about winders and landings before you buy.Winder treads, a half landing and a quarter turn all add difficulty, waste and cost. A quote for a straight flight is not a quote for your stairs unless your stairs are straight.
Tips
- A stair runner with the treads exposed either side gives a period look and wears differently — the wear is concentrated on a narrower strip, but the runner can be moved or replaced without touching the staircase.
- Ask whether the fitter will fit the stairs with the carpet running in one piece or with separate pieces per tread. One continuous piece, properly stretched, is the stronger job.
- Whatever you choose, walk it in socks before deciding it is right. Grip on a staircase matters more than in any other room in the house.