Older homes that are equipped with elegant wooden staircases can be lovely to show off. However, once those stairs start to creak uncontrollably and wake up everyone in the middle of the night, you may want to consider choosing carpet that’s going to help protect, preserve, and silence your beautiful wood stairs. Whether you’re a fan of carpet runners or all-over carpeting, the right choice of carpet can help make your stairs safer and keep them cleaner over time (provided you’re keeping regular appointments with Rainier Chem-Dry.) In general, the choice between carpeted and un-carpeted stairs can say a lot about the style and safety of your home. Choosing to protect your investment by installing carpet won’t just help your home look its best for longer, it can help prevent nasty slips, falls, and annoying creaking sounds. If you’re wondering whether or not stair carpeting is right for you, here are a few things to think about.
Carpeting Prevents Slipping
Anyone who’s lived with elderly parents or young kids will know how important it is to practice stair safety. In addition to teaching kids and adults to proceed slowly and with caution, it helps to install that extra barrier for increased safety. Setting up a stairway runner or overall carpeting can help give your feet something to grip onto so that you’ll be able to catch your balance more easily in the event of a fall. Choosing short, tightly-knit fibers will also decrease the eventuality of a fall in the first place. While certain hardwood floors and older stairs do come with a more textured surface, anything that’s finished or laminated will create a slipping hazard. Installing carpeting also prevents more commonplace issues like foot pain and splintering. If you’re budget-conscious, don’t worry about splurging on carpeted stairs. While all-over carpeting is generally understood to be less hazardous, the right runner could provide a good grip for a slippery staircase at more than half the cost.
It Helps Absorb Sound
Older homes come with a lot of unwanted and unnecessary sounds, such as creaking, “moaning” and echoing. When it comes to your stairs, it’s not just helpful to reduce the sound of creaking during the night. Having a rug can also help confine acoustics of the echoey area of the stairway to the bottom floor. Light sleepers, small children, and even high-strung pets will benefit from the addition of a runner or a full carpet on a home stairwell. Without carpeting, it’s hard not to hear the sound of someone going up and down the stairs every time it happens no matter where you are in the house. If you already live on a noisy street and want your home to be free of any extra racket, carpets are the perfect antidote. In houses that are more populated, or simply in spaces where homeowners prefer peace and quiet to random creaking and pounding noises, carpeting can create a much calmer, more gentle environment, helping to pad footfall and muffle the noisy steps effectively.
It Keeps Your Home Cleaner
It might seem a bit counterintuitive to install a carpet on a staircase with the purpose of keeping a cleaner home. However, although certain types of carpeting can be a pain to clean, they can actually do a great job of collecting dirt and dust in one place, making for easy cleanup. Natural wool carpeting also acts as a natural filter of allergens and airborne pollutants, trapping unwanted bits of pollen and dust on their surface and keeping the air you breathe much cleaner. Even if you purchase a synthetic fiber rug or carpet runner, you’ll be able to clean your stairway area with a lot less effort than before. Instead of breaking out the duster, vacuum, and Swiffer, you’ll be able to get away with a quick vacuum job once every week. As long as you don’t invest in a rug that’s made of a sensitive or too-light material, you’ll be able to keep your rug looking pristine without a whole lot of effort.
It Can Keep Homes Temperature-Controlled
If you live in a colder environment, every little bit helps when it comes to keeping the house warm during the winter. Just like normal carpeting, stairway carpeting and runners can help trap and harness heat, providing an instantly better temperature controlled environment. This is especially helpful in homes where staircases are found near colder, high-ceilinged entryways or hard to heat enclaves. In addition to increasing comfort, having padding underfoot can create a much warmer internal home temperature overall.