Potomac, MD · Stair contractor
Hardwood & vinyl stair installation in Potomac, MD
Carpet-to-hardwood conversions, solid oak tread and riser installation, luxury vinyl stair systems, and railing work — stain-matched to your floors and priced per step, in writing.
Stair work we do in Potomac
Carpet-to-hardwood conversion
Carpet and staples out, solid oak treads and painted or oak risers in, stained to match your floors. The single biggest visual upgrade a foyer can get.
Typical: $173-$288 per step
Hardwood tread & riser installation
New solid treads over sound stringers, prefinished for same-day use or site-finished for an exact match to new hardwood.
Typical: $126-$253 per step
Luxury vinyl stair installation
Purpose-made vinyl treads and nosings that continue your LVP flooring up or down the stairs. Never planks bent over an edge — those fail, and we won't install them.
Typical: $109-$184 per step
Railings, balusters & repair
Loose balusters re-set, handrails refinished or replaced, squeaky and worn treads rebuilt. Full balustrade replacement quoted on site.
Quoted on photos or on site
Stair installation cost in Potomac, MD
Per-step pricing typical for 20854. A standard straight flight is 12-14 steps; landings and winders are itemized separately.
Ranges reflect current Montgomery County rates; confirmed in writing after a free measure. Stair sanding and refinishing of existing treads is priced on our refinishing page.
Local knowledge, not boilerplate
Staircases in Potomac specifically
Estate staircases are the most demanding stair work we do: curved flights, landings, and open two-story foyers in Avenel and Kentsdale Estates where the staircase is the architecture. We install solid treads in white oak or walnut matched to the field floor, handle baluster and newel replacement, and finish everything on site so stain and sheen read as one build rather than a retrofit.
How a Potomac staircase job runs
Measure and stain sample
Every tread measured individually — old stairs are never uniform — and stain sampled on real oak against your floor, not a brochure chip.
Demo and substructure check
Carpet, staples, and old nosing out. We check stringers and wedges while the stairs are open, and fix squeaks at the source before anything is covered.
Treads, risers, and rail
Solid treads and risers installed one section at a time, so the staircase stays usable each evening. Railing work happens in the same visit.
Finish and match
Site-finished stairs get the same stain and sheen schedule as your floors, so the staircase reads as original to the house, not an add-on.
Built to code, not to eyeball
Maryland stair code your Potomac staircase is held to
Maryland enforces the International Residential Code (IRC R311.7) statewide, and in Potomac a permitted staircase is reviewed by Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services. Swapping treads and risers on an existing flight generally does not change the geometry and rarely needs a permit; rebuilding stringers, moving a landing, or changing the rise and run does — confirm scope with your county before demo.
Residential stair dimensions per IRC R311.7 and R312 as adopted in Montgomery County. Older Potomac staircases are often legally non-conforming: we keep the existing geometry where code allows it and tell you up front when a rebuild has to bring the flight up to current numbers.
Potomac stair questions, answered
What does hardwood stair installation cost in Potomac, MD?
Figure $126-$253 per step installed depending on prefinished versus site-finished, plus railing work if wanted. A typical 13-step Potomac staircase converted from carpet to stain-matched oak runs $2,200-$3,700 all-in. Landings, winders, and balustrade work are quoted as visible line items, never surprises.
Hardwood or vinyl on my stairs — which is right?
Stairs take more abuse per square foot than any floor in the house. Solid hardwood treads are the durability and resale winner, and the right call whenever the stairs meet a hardwood level. Vinyl stair systems make sense when the connecting floors are LVP and you want a continuous look, or on secondary and basement stairs — but only with purpose-made stair-nosing parts. Planks bent over a stair nose fail, and we won't install them that way.
Can you match new stairs to my existing floors in Potomac?
Yes — that's most of the job. We stain-sample on an actual tread against your floor, not a brochure chip, and finish in the same sheen so the staircase reads as original to the house. In Avenel we've matched everything from new prefinished oak to floors sanded on site the same week.
Can we still use the stairs while you work?
For prefinished and vinyl systems, yes: we typically work one section at a time and the staircase is walkable every evening, with most Potomac staircases finished in 1-2 days. Site-finished stairs need finish cure, so we schedule those coats for evenings or when the household can use another route, and you get the day-by-day plan in writing before we start.
More flooring services in Potomac, MD
One licensed local crew for everything underfoot in Potomac: hardwood, luxury vinyl, stairs, and rescue work — each with pricing calibrated to Montgomery County.
