Is Carpeting or Hardwood Safer for Staricases?

Household Stairs: To Carpet or Not to Carpet?

If you stop to think about it, hardwood floor seem slick and dangerous, but by the same measure, you might think that a silk or soft carpet could potentially be the same way, especially with the wrong socks. So, which is actually the safer option of the two?

When making the decision, first consider aesthetics. Blending hardwood stairs with a carpeted room and vice versa works well for a contemporary decor theme. If you’re going with a vintage or rustic scheme, you might want to go with one or the other.

It goes like this; the grass is always greener on the other staircase. One who has a hardwood staircase probably slips on it often, saying, “I need carpeting on these steps before I get hurt“. Alternatively, a person with carpeting probably doesn’t slip often, but when he or she does, the first reaction is “I have to rip up that carpeting before I get hurt“. It’s true you can still slip on carpeting, but it’s just not as often.

So before you go on a carpet-removing rampage, consider two things: the quality of your carpet, and how often you’ve slipped. If your carpet is old, it can become matted down and actually become dangerous; it’s actually better to replace a carpet, than to just remove it.