How to Create the Most Durable Bamboo Stairs

What’s the best way to add an eco-friendly and durable flooring system in your home? You can settle for bamboo stairs, of course. As the name suggests, the entire stairs—from stairs flooring, bamboo treads, nose, and even risers—can be made of bamboo. This hardwood is acclaimed for its flexibility, versatility, strength, and environmental friendliness.

Bamboo Stairs: Bamboo Stair Treads or Strips and Planks?

When it comes to your bamboo stair, you actually have two choices: the treads or the strips and planks. The solution to your confusion will be based on what you want to achieve. The bamboo stair tread is ideal if you want to install the entire piece. If you are looking for a prefinished floor that could match the overall look of your stairs, you will have to stick with the planks and strips. This is because bamboo manufacturers really don’t produce prefinished risers and treads.

How to Look for a Tread for Bamboo Stairs

There are some qualifications that you can come up with when you’re looking for treads for your bamboo stairs. First of all, it must be durable, considering that people will have to pass through it several times in a day, more so in a year. Second, it must be highly resistant to scratch, especially those created by high heels, in order to prolong the beauty and the strength of the bamboo.

Bamboo Railing: Add More Protection

A bamboo railing is added to your bamboo stairs to ensure that no one accidentally falls and suffers severe injuries. However, there can be one potential issue that you should know how to handle. The bamboo railing is more susceptible to weathering. If it gets too much exposure from the sun, it gets damaged. If it becomes too damp because rain, it will decay sooner than you thought. Worse, since they are very prone to damage, a lot of bamboo manufacturers don’t provide any warranties to your bamboo railings.

What you can do, though, is to make sure that the bamboo railings don’t get exposed to these weather elements. If your bamboo stairs are facing near the sun, you may add some curtains to somehow filter the rays that could come into your window. You may also want to check the railings as soon as they arrive. Keep in mind that these will provide support to anyone who passes through the bamboo stairs. Any crack will be potentially dangerous. You can caulk the joints to solve these.

Bamboo Stair Nose: The Overhang

The bamboo stair nose is sometimes called the bamboo bull nose. It is added as an overhang on the stairs. It can be flushed against the floor or overlap the floor. Regardless of how you put it, though, you should be able to secure it properly with the use of a nail or a glue.

Adding bamboo stairs in your home doesn’t only enhance the overall appearance of your home, but you are also promoting better earth, since you don’t need to cut down trees, which take a lot of time to grow.