Stair Tread Basics

Stair tread can be confusing, but there is no reason for this. There are two types of stair treads. One is weight bearing or structural. The other type goes on top of the structural stair tread and may provide no slip qualities, décor, or more.

At the most basic level, the stair tread is the part of the stair your foot goes on. It supports your weight. The vertical part of the stairs, the part between each stair tread, is called a riser. And the part of the stair tread that sticks out beyond the riser is called the nose, because it sticks out like a nose.

Stair treads are typically wood but can be made of other materials like concrete or metal. Often, cheaper construction grade material is used for stair treads, for example construction grade plywood. This construction grade material may be covered by a wood stair tread, for example one of many types of beautiful hardwood. In this case the stair tread has another tread, a wooden stair tread on top of it. Of course the construction grade materials could also have been covered by wall to wall carpet or some other material instead.

We can have even more layers of treads. We could have the weight bearing construction grade material tread, covered by a wood stair tread, and then a decorative stair tread or non slip stair tread on top of it.

Examples of decorative stair tread include carpet, a carpet runner which is a thin carpet designed to show the two edges of the stair, small stair tread rugs, one per stair, much like small welcome mats, or many other things. Carpet runners are particularly popular when the stairs are made of hardwood. The carpet runner provides non slip, sound muffling, and some decorative qualities and still allows some of the hardwood to show through.

Examples of non slip stair tread include textured rubber stair tread as well as less expensive vinyl stair tread. One of these treads is placed per step. They can usually be easily installed with tacks, staples, cements, and some even come with a built in adhesive backing. Some have a non skid backing and simply lay down just like a welcome mat. You can even get some designed for outdoor use which are heated! They plug into a standard outlet and melt snow and ice.

So stair treads are simple. They will always be a structural weight bearing stair tread. This may or may not be covered by one or more stair treads, for décor, safety/non slip, sound muffling, or protective qualities to the underlying tread.