Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 20, 2010 6:26 pm Hi everyone We are building our new house at Sydney. And now it comes to the stage to select the style of staircase. The standard staircase of the builder is MDF based treads and painted pine handrails. It costs about $1,100 to upgrade handrail, posts and capping from painted pine to maple, and it will cost another $2,400 to upgrade to maple treads, risers and non slip nosing. So to make a full timber staircase of maple, it will cost about $3,500. My question is, is this a reasonable price? and is the maple hard enough for stair treads? thanks. Re: timber staircase 2Aug 20, 2010 7:06 pm What you would be getting is Pacific Maple (Meranti spp.), not North American Maple. Whilst it is a hardwood its not a particulary hard timber. It would be softer than the MDF. You could get the stairs done out of F27 structual Blackbutt, the timber will be the same price as the meranti (maple). Another option is to get T&G flooring laid over the MDF treads, you can pretty much choose your own timber then Re: timber staircase 3Aug 24, 2010 11:12 am thanks Dukekamaya We finally decide to lay our own timber floor over the MDF treads The maple and F27 structual Blackbutt treads do not look so good, but it's too expensive to upgrade to another material. Staircases and sausages. Should thou wish to keep thy palate sweet for sausages, avert thine eyes from their crafting. 14 4591 Not sure if that works? I was told the issue is the headspace clearance requirement on step 4. My builder is proposing shifting the beam 310mm towards the kitchen...I'm… 2 2551 Engineering timber is certainly a less fuss option, times cheaper to supply and install and better withstands humidity. 1 15908 |