My husband and I are looking to replace our current carpets with Mohawk laminate flooring. We had Home Depot come out to give us a quote for the living room, stairs, and hallway upstairs. Unfortunately, it was a little out of our price range, as we were quoted over $1000 just in labor for the 13 stairs. My husband mentioned doing the job with his buddies, but is unsure if the stairs will more than they can install. In addition, we’re not sure how to go about installing the laminate with the current wooden banister.
Does the quote for the stairs sound reasonable? If not, how difficult will it be for us to install the laminate on the stairs ourselves? Any suggestions on where we might be able to find installation instructions for the stairs?
Thanks for your help!
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I'm not an installer but that sounds extremely high. Although I know it's possible to do, I was always lead to believe that it's not a good idea to put laminate on steps (experts feel free to correct me). It can be slippery which is a definate no no. Also each step will have a slight lip where the nosing material meets the floor. This can't be that comforatable to walk up 13 steps on. What is under the carpet? are they plywood or hardwood? If they are hardwood you can refinish them to match the laminate floors. If they are plywood look into getting them retreaded or even put a runner down the middle and put false treads on the ends. Just my 2 cents
Mike
heres the scoop.
Laminate is a very wise choice for steps cause you never have to worry about your steps again. But having said that, a wool carpet runner would be the only correct choice after the laminate, to help with slip resistance and add the perfect finishing touch.
weather or not it is possible, I would have to see a picture if that is possible.
1,000 or about 75 bucks a step is VERY reasonable. But, get another quote from a full service flooring ONLY store first, just to make sure the Depot didnt pad the job too much.
I recently had an extremely difficult set of stairs done for a client, and the installer unscrewed the banister and reinstalled it when it was done. I will be taking pics in a couple weeks. They simply love it.
The reasoon the price is reasonable even for a much more simpler set of stairs, is because most of the time, stairs need more work done to em before install can start, and it could take a couple hours a step before its all through. Not a bad rate when you put it in perspective.
It is true, that is some cases, you need to use an over the top stairnose which has a small lip, but alot of the times, you can get a flush stairnose too.
If you are interested is an easier DIY product go to www.wilsonart.com.
They have a product called one-step which has a stairnose already connected to the laminate. trim the sides, trim the back, badda boom badda bing, laminate step!
good luck, and get back to me if you can get a pic of the steps.
