Carpets, Stairs & Fitting Costs

Runners

• Runners are long rugs with a fixed width. You can quickly and easily lay them on top of wooden stairs or on top of existing stair carpeting. According to DIY-or-Not, laying a 26-inch-wide runner with padding costs about $200 for supplies and takes about five hours if you do it yourself. Hiring a professional runs about $317. He’ll take about four hours to finish the job. The price of runners varies by quality and brand. A synthetic with unfinished ends can cost as little as $7.77 per linear foot on sale. A high-quality import in wool can run $50.00 a linear foot or more. Prices are accurate at the time of publication.

Low-End Carpet

• Covering the entire stairway with carpet entails more effort and cost. While installation is possible for an experienced do-it-yourselfer, hired installers can complete the job more quickly and with less material waste. On the low end, an apartment-grade carpet that lasts from two to four years costs from $7 to $10 per square yard for the carpet and an additional $2 to $3 per square yard for installation. This is for a 100-percent nylon version with a face-weight of 24 to 28 ounces. The three to six pound pad costs an additional $1.75 to $2.50 per square yard. Prices are from the Carpet Super Site and are accurate at the time of publication.

High-End Carpet

• High-end residential carpet lasts from 12 to 15 years and costs from $15 to $20 per square yard plus $3.75 to $6.25 per square yard for installation. This is for a 100-percent nylon version, with a face weight of 40 to 65 ounces. (More expensive wool carpets run $50 per square yard or more.) The six to eight pound pad costs $3.5 to $4.50 per square yard.

Measurements

• Accurate measurements are needed to estimate final costs and are especially critical for do-it-yourselfers. (Professionals will include the cost of measuring under their labor charges.) One method of measuring includes the width of the stair step multiplied by the depth of the tread multiplied by the height of the riser, measured from the nose of the tread to the bottom of the riser. The product is then multiplied by the number of steps to determine total yards. For example, a step measuring 24 inches wide by 10 inches deep by 8 inches high results in 1,920 square inches or about 1.48 square yards. Multiplying this by 10 steps means 14.8 square yards of carpet and padding are needed.