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Hardwood Stairs Cost in Ontario (2026): $150 a Tread Boxed, $200 Open, Treads, Risers and Nosings, Carpet-to-Hardwood Conversions and the Code Numbers
Flooring & Tile
What Hardwood Stairs Cost: Per Tread, Boxed or Open, the Carpet-to-Oak Conversion, and the Three Numbers the Inspector Carries in His Head
A staircase is the most expensive fourteen square feet of flooring in the house and the part people see first from the front door. Hardwood stairs are priced by the tread, not by the foot: $150 each for a boxed oak tread and riser, stained and finished, on a stringer that already exists, so a straight 14-tread flight is $2,100. Open ends, a wider stair, a landing, a change of species or a glass railing each move that, and the carpet it replaces was $560. Here is how a stair is built up and priced, what the conversion from a carpeted builder stair involves, and the rise, run and rail numbers that decide whether it passes.
The numbers
$150per tread, boxed, oak, finished
$200per tread, open end or over 42 in. wide
$40per tread, carpet
$2,100a straight 14-tread flight in oak
| Item | Rate | What is in it |
|---|---|---|
| Boxed tread and riser, oak, stained and finished | $150 per tread | 1-in. solid oak tread with a bullnose, 3/4-in. riser (oak or painted poplar), fitted between two walls or a wall and a skirt, glued and screwed from behind, sanded, stained to match the floor, three coats. On an existing stringer. |
| Open-tread, one or both ends exposed | $200 per tread | Mitred return nosing on the open end so no end grain shows, fitted around the newel and balusters. Slower, fussier, and the one people photograph. |
| Wider than 42 in. | $200 per tread | Wider treads, often a centre stringer added, more material and a two-man carry. |
| Landing | Priced as floor | Square feet at the flooring rate, plus a stair nosing on the open edge. A 4×4 landing in mid engineered is 16 sq ft at $10.75, about $172, plus the nosing. |
| Carpet, tread and riser wrapped | $40 per tread | Pad, tackless strip, hand-stretched. The cheap stair by $110 a step. |
| Pie or winder treads | Ask | Each one is a template and a glue-up. Expect the open-tread rate or more per step. |
Railings, newels, balusters and glass are not in these numbers and are a separate trade with a separate quote; a plain oak rail with iron balusters on one side of a 14-tread flight is commonly as much again as the treads. The flooring cost calculator counts treads by type and prices the landing as floor.
One staircase, three ways
| 14-tread straight flight, 36 in. wide, with a 4×4 landing at the top | Treads | Landing | Before HST |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carpet throughout, mid grade | 14 x $40 = $560 | 16 sq ft x $5.00 = $80 | $640 |
| Boxed oak treads and risers, engineered landing | 14 x $150 = $2,100 | 16 sq ft x $10.75 = $172 | $2,272 |
| Open on one side, oak, engineered landing | 14 x $200 = $2,800 | 16 sq ft x $10.75 = $172 | $2,972 |
Add the stair nosing at the landing edge and a transition where the landing meets the hall, $35 at the schedule rate. Add the railing. The oak stair is $1,632 more than the carpet one and lasts the life of the house; the carpet comes out in twelve years. This is the one upgrade I tell every client to take even if the bedrooms stay carpet.
Turning a carpeted builder stair into hardwood
Nearly every production house in Ontario has a construction stair under the carpet: 2×10 or 2×12 treads of spruce or OSB on cut stringers, with a particleboard or plywood riser, built to be covered. The conversion is what the $150 a tread is for. The carpet and pad come off, which is about 75 sq ft of carpet on a 14-tread flight and an hour of staples. The old bullnose is cut flush with the riser so the new tread sits square. A 1-in. oak tread goes over the old one, a new riser goes over the old riser, and the stair ends up about 1 in. higher at every step, which is fine as long as the top and bottom are dealt with.
That top and bottom is where conversions go wrong. Add an inch to every tread and the first step up from the main floor is an inch taller than the rest, and the last step onto the upper floor is an inch shorter, unless the flooring at both ends is being raised too. The Ontario code allows very little variation between risers in one flight, and more than that is both a failed inspection and the step everyone trips on. A good stair man measures the finished floor heights at both ends before he cuts a tread. If the floors are not changing, he either plans a thinner tread cap or shims the whole flight, and he tells you which. Why the stairs go in after the floors are decided.
The code numbers
For a stair inside a house in Ontario, the current Building Code wants a rise of no more than 7-7/8 in. (200 mm) and a run of at least 10 in. (255 mm), with a tread depth a little deeper than the run because of the nosing. Risers in one flight have to match each other closely, headroom is 6 ft 5 in. (1,950 mm) and a handrail sits between 34 and 38 in. (865 to 965 mm) above the nosings. Older houses were built to older numbers and are not required to change when you recover the treads, but a new stair, or a stair in an addition or a basement apartment, is built to today’s. The stair stringer calculator works out rise and run for a new flight from the floor-to-floor height.
Nosings: the bullnose on a tread can project no more than about 1 in. past the riser, and the landing needs a proper stair-nose moulding, not a square-edged plank with the end grain showing. A flooring plank run to the edge of a landing and left there is the most common thing I see wrong on a finished stair, and it is a trip edge as well as an ugly one.
Where homeowners go wrong
- Pricing the stairs by the square foot. A 14-tread stair is about 50 sq ft of tread and riser face. At $10.75 that would be $540. It is $2,100 because every step is a fitted piece, finished in place.
- Matching the stain by eye. The treads are solid oak; the floor is a factory-finished engineered plank. Stained in place, the two never quite match, and the right move is to accept a deliberate contrast or buy prefinished treads from the flooring maker where they exist. Decide before the first coat.
- Forgetting the railing. The treads are done, the stair is open, and the railing quote arrives. Get both quotes before either starts, and read the handrail height.
- Letting the flooring installer “do the stairs too”. Some can. Most are plank layers, and a stair is finish carpentry. Ask to see a staircase he has done, in person.
- Putting carpet back on because the quote shocked them. $1,540 is the difference between carpet and oak on a 14-tread flight. It is the best-looking $1,540 in the house. Carpet costs, if you want the other case made.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to redo stairs in hardwood in Ontario?
About $150 a tread for boxed oak treads and risers, stained and finished, over an existing stringer, so $2,100 for a 14-step flight before HST. Open ends or a stair wider than 42 in. is $200 a tread. The railing is extra and often as much again.
How much does it cost to convert carpeted stairs to hardwood?
The same $150 to $200 a tread; the conversion is what the rate covers. The carpet tearout is small money. The real question is the inch of height the new treads add at the top and bottom step, which has to be planned with the flooring at both ends.
Can you put engineered flooring on stairs?
On a landing, yes, with a proper stair nosing. On the treads, only with the manufacturer’s matching tread caps, which some makers sell and some do not. A solid oak tread stained to go with the floor is the usual answer and the sturdier one.
What is the difference between boxed and open stairs?
Boxed treads run wall to wall or wall to skirt board, with both ends hidden. Open treads have one or both ends exposed with a mitred return nosing, and the balusters sit on the tread. Open is $50 a tread more and is what a staircase in an open foyer usually is.
Does Tarion or the inspector check stair dimensions?
The building inspector checks rise, run, headroom, handrail height and riser uniformity on any new or altered stair. Tarion covers a builder-installed stair for defects in the first year, including loose or squeaking treads. Recovering your own treads after closing is yours to get right.
Count the treads with the floors
The flooring cost calculator takes the tread count by type, prices the landing as floor and adds it to the rest of the house. If a stair quote in hand is one number with no tread count, the $99 review will tell you whether it is boxed, open or optimistic.
Sources and further reading
- Ontario’s Building Code: the official page with the current regulation; stair dimensions, bathroom finishes and floor framing are in Part 9.
- Tarion warranty coverage: what a new-home warranty covers for flooring gaps, cupping, cracked tile and squeaks in year one and year two, and the Construction Performance Guidelines it measures them by.
- National Wood Flooring Association: the installation guidelines every hardwood warranty points to: subfloor flatness, moisture limits, acclimation, fastening schedules and the radiant-heat chapter.
