Stair carpet?

[Mark S.]

Just a quick question, why did/do people have a gap at the edges of stair carpet?

Mark S.

[Roger]

The message from Mark S. contains these words:

To save money.

You don't naturally walk close to the edge of stairs even when you have a handrail to use rather than a wall keeping your centre of gravity well away from the edge.

[John Rumm]

You don't tend to in these days of fitted carpets.

It used to be the case if you bought a stair carpet of "stair runner", they came in certain fixed widths. So you bought the widest you could fit without needing to trip the edges, leaving the gap.

[Kevin Brady]

I thought it was typical to have a 'double fold' of carpet at the bottom of the stair, allowing the owner to loosen the stair rods (which hold the carpet in place), and slide the entire strip upward, when the carpet became worn at the step edges (nosings). This would be a lot more difficult with 'wall to wall' carpetting. Even more economical (as long as you still like the colour).

[Rob Morley]

So there was room to attach the carpet rods?

[andrewpreece]

In those days noone had fitted carpets, so there would be nothing inconsistent with having a non-fitted stair carpet. I note in fact that the trend nowadays is back to wooden floors and rugs! My mother has just asked me about new carpet for the stairs/landing/hallway and she wants a runner type carpet for the stairs, 27" wide, with the treads and risers that are exposed at the edges painted white.

I haven't found many outlets that actually do stair carpets, but if they do they tend to be very cheap jumbo cord type stuff or very expensive exclusive catalogue items. A carpet shop chappie told me I could have a stair carpet made from any suitable carpet, they cut it along the width, then run it through a hemming machine, at an extra cost of £2/metre. The problem there is that even a 5metre roll won't get you to the top of an average flight of stairs, especially if there is a a fold of extra carpet at the bottom in reserve so wear can be equalised. Any join in the stair carpet made this way is easily disguised by tucking it into the gripper strips at the bottom of a riser, but like I said, it makes evening up wear very problematical compared to a full-length carpet runner held in position by carpet-rods.

Andy.

[MM]

But also because it looks better. I think a polished wooden staircase with a carpet runner and nice stair rods looks far nicer than fitted carpet.

MM