Stair Runners in Amador County

The carpet itself should be low-pile and dense. Tightly twisted cut pile like frieze and level-loop constructions like Berber both work well because the short, dense surface resists the crushing that happens at the nosing. Long plush pile is a poor stair choice for the same reason it shows footprints on a bedroom floor: the upright fibers flatten under repeated traffic and never spring back. Solution-dyed nylon and high-twist polyester both perform well on stairs, with nylon holding up longer in heavy-traffic households. Padding for stairs is different from padding for an open room: it needs to be denser (8-pound rebond or better) and thinner (typically 3/8 inch or less) so the carpet does not roll on the tread edge. A thick or soft pad lets the carpet flex under the nosing and accelerates wear at the exact spot that takes the most abuse. Standard runner widths in the U.S. market are 27, 30, and 32 inches, with 27 and 30 the most common on residential staircases. The "reveal" (the exposed wood between the runner edge and the wall) typically runs 3 to 5 inches per side. Most runners are bound (a finished cloth or yarn tape along the cut edges) or serged (a thread overlock); binding produces a flatter, more formal edge, and serging produces a softer rolled edge. Wall-to-wall stair installations skip the binding step because the carpet wraps fully and tucks under the trim. On open-sided staircases the carpet either wraps around the side (a "waterfall" install on the closed side, a "Hollywood" upholstered wrap on the exposed side) or stops at a binding line, depending on the look the homeowner wants. Amador County's older Gold Country homes often have steep, narrow stairs that benefit from a runner with visible wood on both sides, both for visual lightness and to make the treads easier to clean. If you want a stair-specific custom-cut and bound product rather than wall-to-wall carpet, see the stair runners page under area rugs. Otherwise, any of the constructions in the main carpet line that pass the low-pile, high-density test will install well on stairs.