Many of us give plenty of thought into the flooring for our kitchen, living room and bedrooms, but everyone forgets about the stairs! Stairs don’t tend to be the main attraction in the home (unless you have a very grand staircase) which means they can be forgotten. However, stairs are a big part of how your home is perceived and is one of the highest foot traffic areas in the home. So which flooring is most suitable?
As we’ve mentioned, stairs experience a lot of foot traffic with them being used everyday and by everyone. This makes durability an important factor and each flooring type has a different durability rating. Let’s assess the main options…
Carpet
This is a common choice for stairs! It’s comforting and homely under foot, as well as looking inviting. Often the stairs lead up to the bedroom which tends to have carpet in, therefore keeping things nice and consistent. If you do fall down the stairs, carpet will provide that soft landing and this is especially important if you have kids! As well as this, carpet is grippy and stops anyone slipping even if something is spilt on it.
Nevertheless, like any flooring choice it has its disadvantages. Carpet loses its colour over time, especially if it is exposed to a lot of sunlight. As mentioned previously, due to the high volume of foot fall stairs experience your carpet will soon look trodden in and worn, much quicker than other choices!
Another factor when choosing a flooring for any room is cleaning and maintenance. As we’re sure you’re aware, carpets have to be vacuumed which can be a pain – none wants to drag a heavy hoover up the stairs when you can just sweep! Someone who is elderly or disabled may find this a harder task, so if you fall into this category, then carefully consider.
Wood Flooring
While other flooring choices may be highly practical, nothing quite compares to the classy and glam look of real wood. Wood is a popular choice for the hallway, which most of the time matches the stairs. As well as this, wood flooring is probably the most durable material for flooring, so you should have no concerns having it on your stairs and it showing wear.
Another factor to consider is wood flooring will add value to your property – buyers can’t say no to its charm! So if you’re doing a home up to sell or just thinking about your home’s selling value, then wood flooring will certainly help with that.
There’s no doubt that wood flooring will impress anyone who comes to your home as it never goes out of fashion, so no need to worry about updating it in a few years time! However wood can be slippery when wet and again falling down the stairs is no joke, so this is something to bear in mind!
So what is the answer? If you place a runner on your stairs then you can still enjoy the beautiful look of wood flooring without the slipping hazard and scratches. But carpet has always been an old favourite!