Before selecting the perfect staircase tread for your project, you need to know the options. There are many types of staircase tread for your choice. Whether you’re building a new home or renovating an existing one, designing a staircase to fit your design style and lifestyle is an important consideration.
At GRT, we have many types of stair treads to accommodate your staircase and project.
What types of stair treads are there?
Various Types of materials are available and include – Wood, Glass, Steel, and Stone.
1, Wood Treads
It is important to consider if your project is for the interior or exterior of your home before you choose a wood tread. Some wood species do not hold up well in the outdoor weather elements so choosing an appropriate type of wood should be considered.
For your interior stairs, there are a variety of woods available to choose from. Like oak wood, ash wood, maple wood, walnut wood, or rubberwood.
Rubber Wood ( also called Thailand Oak Wood ) is a common wood type. The biggest difference it has is, the rubberwood does not have the obvious wood grain, but with finger-joint texture. It is a light wood with medium-textured, straight-grained, and moderately hard. And the most important is low-cost.
Ash wood is a hard highly figured wood with a closed grain. It has a pattern similar to oak with a more pronounced grain. Ash stains well and is often used as a lower-cost alternative to red oak.
Beech wood is typically a reddish-brown wood that is fairly straight-grained. Slightly coarse with conspicuous rays and tiny pores.
Walnut Wood is tough hardwood, the sapwood is creamy white, while the heartwood is light to dark brown. The dark wood is typically the most sought after so expect to pay more as much of the sapwood will be unusable. Walnut wood is more expensive than the other wood types.
Maple Wood is a visually appealing hardwood, with soft consistent color tones and tight clear grain. Hard maple enhances the beauty of any stairway. It is a creamy white with a slight reddish-brown tinge and is generally straight-grained. It has a high resistance to abrasion and making it a good solid choice for stairs and landings.
Red Oak is similar in general appearance to white oak, but with a slightly less pronounced figure due to the smaller rays. The wood is mostly straight-grained, with a coarse texture.
White Oak Wood is light-colored and the heartwood is light-to-dark brown. White oak has become very popular in modern design as it is mostly straight-grained with a medium-to-coarse texture. Having longer rays than red oak, white oak has more figures. It is not recommended for aesthetic outdoor tread applications as it turns black quickly with the weather.
Teak Wood is a close-grained hardwood with high natural oil and silica content. It is one of the hardest, strongest, and most durable of all timbers, highly resistant to any rotting and almost impervious to the effects of hot sun, rain, frost, or snow. If your exterior staircase needs wood steps, teak wood is a good choice.
Merbau Wood is straight to interlocked. The texture is coarse, with a moderate natural luster. Merbau wood its a high degree of natural durability and strength it is used externally in engineering, construction, and marine applications.
GRT can customize the stair treads according to your demands. If you want some other woods which are not listed above, tell us and let’s make it.
2, Glass Treads
Glass stair treads are perfect for clients wanting that optical visual design. As a result of using laminated tempered glass, light travels through the glass from above and below. There are dozens of varieties of colors, patterns, textures, and finished available in glass.
Anti-Slip Glass Treads are made by laminated tempered glass with an etched finish or sculpt finish on the surface. Normally there are three layers of tempered glass. The top layer will with anti-slip design.
Frosted Glass Treads are similar to anti-slip glass treads. They are also with an etched finish, but a frosted finish. Frosted glass treads are a type of fabricated glass product that is made translucent either for privacy or decorative purpose.
Cracked Glass Treads are one type of special glass treads. It can draw attention to the staircase highlighting the glass treads. The cracked glass treads in contrast with the steel staircase created the perfect balance of an eye-catching but subtle feature staircase. They are made of three or four layers of tempered laminated glass. The middle layers of glass will be craked then cover the unbroken glass on top.
Choosing a glass stair tread with a steel staircase stringer system will create a stunning architectural element in your home. There are dozens of varieties of colors, patterns, textures, and finished available in glass. No matter you want to make tinted color glass treads, or you want the glass treads with LED light. At GRT, we have the capability to create your dream staircase.
3, Steel Treads
Steel treads or metal treads are strong and offer rustic industrial styling. Steel treads pair beautifully with open beam architecture and are often preferred on spiral staircases. But some straight staircases are also can use steel steps. With steel treads, it is important to provide some sort of slip protection. Here are some common steel treads designs.
Diamond Plate Steel Treads are manufactured from high-quality diamond plates, also known as checker plates, steel in a variety of configurations and lengths to fit your needs.
Perforated Plate Steel Treads are utilized to provide visual interest, airflow, and security. They offer a modern urban design while also imparting flexibility, strength, and cleanability.
Except for these two steel treads, there are also have other designs like grating steel steps. Customers can let us know your detailed demands then we will give you the best solutions for your project.
4, Stone Treads
Stone stair treads are the material of choice for stairs in homes, offices, and public buildings. They are universally used outside. We offer different stone stairs treas at GRT.
Marble Treads are ideal interior decorative items that can go with every type of residential house or commercial property.
Granite Treads are the perfect material for those looking for a special cover for the staircase and their durability adds elegance to the setting. Granite is more resistant to stains due to these properties and has a much lower value than marble.
Quartz Treads are a replacement for marble and granite treads for stairs which are expensive. Quartz stone treads are a lifestyle statement for any home or business and are often seen in the lobbies of hotels and restaurants. Beautiful and modern stairs tread made of quartz stone are decorations for any home and give a unique charm.
At GRT, we custom fabricate stairs and balustrades to fit your style and space. We can provide you with wood, glass, steel, and stone treads for our staircases. All you have to do is choose your style.
