Stairs, treads and spindles.

What is stair nosing, and do you need it for vinyl plank or laminate?

The nosing is the horizontal protruding edge of a stair tread.[1] On a floating floor you need a purpose-made stair nosing profile, because the plank cannot simply be run over the edge: it has to be mechanically held at the tread edge while the field of the floor stays free to move.

The guidelines describe the overlap reducer or stair nosing as the moulding used to provide a smooth transition between floors of different heights or different types, and note it is typically used in floating floor installations and must be attached to the subfloor in order to maintain adequate expansion space.[1] That last clause is the whole reason a proper profile is not optional: fasten it through the floor instead and you have pinned the floating floor. More on the vinyl plank and laminate pages.

How do you install hardwood on stairs after carpet?

The carpet, underpad, tack strip and staples come off, and then you find out what the treads actually are. In most older houses they are construction-grade and not meant to be seen, so the job is fitting new treads and risers, or cladding the existing ones, rather than sanding what is there. The guidelines describe solid stair treads as used for the steps themselves or, more commonly, to cover the existing sub-treads.[1]

Then the nosing detail at the front edge of each tread, the returns on any open side, and the transition where the stairs meet the floor above and below. It is finish carpentry more than flooring, which is why it is priced and scheduled separately from the flat work.

Is carpet or hardwood safer on stairs, and what about a runner?

Carpet gives more grip underfoot and softens a fall, so on pure safety it has the edge, particularly for small children and older people. A hardwood stair with a properly fitted runner is the usual compromise and gets most of the grip back while keeping the look. The guidelines describe a false-tread system for exactly this: solid treads at the exposed ends with a carpet runner between.[1]

If you go with bare hardwood stairs, the things that matter for safety are a consistent nosing profile, a finish that is not glass-slick, and a handrail you can actually hold. A runner that is not fastened down properly is worse than no runner at all. The carpet page has what the residential standard requires for carpet on stairs.

Where we stop: stair dimensions, guard heights and the spacing between spindles are set by the Ontario Building Code, and this page does not quote numbers from it because we have not been able to verify the current article text directly. The guidelines themselves say to check with local building codes for stair nosing overhang, rise and run.[1] If your project involves changing a stair or a guard, that is a question for your municipal building department, and the answer is theirs rather than ours. In Hamilton, replacing interior railings or guards is on the City's own list of permit jobs; see the Hamilton page.

Iron balusters vs wood: which, and are iron spindles going out of style?

Iron balusters are thinner than wood for the same strength, so a railing in iron blocks less light and less view, which is why they took over open staircases. Wood suits a traditional or fully painted stair. On current Ontario houses iron is still the more common request rather than a fading trend.

Max's take: the pattern is what dates a railing, not the material. A simple square or plain round iron baluster has not gone out of style; the heavily twisted and scrolled patterns from fifteen years ago have. Swapping wood for iron on an existing stair is a real job rather than a cosmetic one, because each baluster is set into the tread and the handrail.

As above, anything that changes a guard's spacing or height is a building code question before it is a style question.