Vinyl stair treads can provide your stairs with a nice
looking finish, with plenty of traction. They also come in a wide
variety of different designs and colors. They're usually inexpensive and
would allow you to use plywood, oriented strand board or even engineered
stair treads underneath the vinyl covering, to reduce costs. You could
actually create a nice looking, safe stairway without spending a small
fortune.
1. The best tip I could give anyone or biggest advantage I could think
of, for using these stair step coverings would be to transform an old
stairway into something nicer. If you had an old stairway that was worn
down or had minor blemishes, you could cover your stair steps up with
vinyl tread covering.
2. They will usually provide you with more traction. Smooth stair steps
aren't going to provide you with a skid resistant surface. However,
vinyl stair treads will as long as they have small grooves, in them and
are not smooth themselves.
3. You can usually purchase them in different colors and this would
change the look of the stairway, entirely. Instead of replacing your
stair treads you could cover them up with a thin layer of vinyl. It
would definitely be cheaper and if you're looking at saving a few
dollars, this could be the answer that you're looking for.
Disadvantages Of Using Vinyl Stair Treads
1. They will need to be maintained. If the adhesive doesn't hold
properly, they could lift around the edges, creating safety hazards.
There has been instances where they've actually slipped off of the
original stair tread, when there has been a large increase in
temperature.
2. This is the biggest is the damage I could possibly think of. If you
use vinyl stair treads to cover a nice wood stairway, you might be
stuck, using vinyl replacement coverings forever.
It's usually difficult to remove the adhesive, used to bond the original
stair treads to the vinyl. Plan on using some type of chemical and doing
a lot of sanding, in order to restore your original stair steps, if
someone used a strong adhesive.
