The part that gets subcontracted
Stairs and railings, by the same crew that lays the floor.
A lot of flooring companies do not touch stairs. They send them out, which is how you end up with two schedules, two invoices and two people to chase when the tread and the floor do not match. We do them in house, so the stair comes out of the same material as the floor it opens onto, and it is on the same quote and the same warranty.
Treads, risers, nosing, newel posts, spindles and handrail, plus cutting the doors so they clear the new height. Stairs are the one part of a floor with a safety dimension, so this page also says clearly where our work stops and the building code starts.
What the job involves
Finish carpentry more than flooring.
Hardwood treads and risers
Usually after carpet
- Carpet, underpad, tack strip and staples off first
- Under most older carpet is construction-grade lumber never meant to be seen
- So the work is new treads and risers, or cladding the existing ones, rather than sanding what is there
- The guidelines describe solid treads used as the steps themselves or, more commonly, to cover the existing sub-treads[1]
Nosing and returns
The edge that takes the traffic
Railings
Newel, spindles, handrail
- Iron or wood balusters, set into the tread and the handrail
- Newel posts and handrail matched to the floor
- Swapping wood spindles for iron on an existing stair is a real job, not a cosmetic one
- Anything that changes guard height or spindle spacing is a code question first, see below
Carpet on stairs, or a runner
The safer choice, done to the standard
- Carpet gives more grip and softens a fall; a fitted runner over hardwood is the usual compromise
- The residential carpet standard requires the stair nose return be rounded to ¾" to 1" so it cannot cut the carpet or cushion[2]
- The guidelines describe a false-tread system that combines solid treads with a carpet runner[1]
Where we stop
The code question, said plainly.
Rise and run, nosing overhang, 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 verified the current article text directly and we do not print figures we cannot source.
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The guidelines say the same thing
On both nosing entries, the national wood flooring guidelines end with the same instruction: be sure to check with local building codes for stair nosing overhang, rise and run, and proper installation requirements.[1] Refacing a tread does not change the stair's geometry; changing a stair does.
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Hamilton names railings as a permit job
The City of Hamilton's list of projects that require a building permit includes, in its words, "replacement of interior railings/guards", while its list of projects that do not includes "installing minor millwork, cabinetry, and flooring such as carpet, laminate or hardwood".[3] That covers Waterdown, Dundas, Ancaster, Stoney Creek and Binbrook as well as the old city. If your stair project includes a new or replaced guard in Hamilton, the Building Division is at 905-546-2720, and we will tell you when the job crosses that line rather than pretend it has not.
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Other municipalities
Burlington, Oakville and Grimsby each publish their own guidance, quoted on the service area pages. Where a town does not name railings either way, the building department's answer is the one that counts, not ours.
Sources
- National Wood Flooring Association, Wood Flooring Installation Guidelines, revised 2025. Definitions of nosing, overlap stair nosing, stair tread and false tread, and the instruction to check local building codes for nosing overhang and rise and run.
- The Carpet and Rug Institute, CRI 105 Standard for Installation of Residential Carpet, 2019 edition, section 15, carpet on stairs.
- City of Hamilton, Building Permit Application Requirements, "Projects that Require a Building Permit" and "Projects that Don't Require a Building Permit". Read 9 September 2026.
Sources last read
Next step
One crew, one schedule, one number for the floor and the stairs.
The estimate is free and it happens at the house, where we can see what the carpet is hiding on the treads.
- Phone
- 289-689-4242
- referralflooring@gmail.com
- Warranty
- 1 year on floor repair and installation.
- Area
- Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville, Grimsby and the wider Golden Horseshoe.