What we walk into in East York
1930s–50s semi-detached and small detached houses, many never renovated below the carpet. Rooms are small, ceilings are low, and the original 2 1/4" strip oak is usually still there and usually worth saving.
Lifting broadloom to find intact oak, dust-contained refinishing in occupied houses, and steep narrow flights where every millimetre of run matters.
How we specify stairs here
- Retread carpeted stairs with solid oak, maple, or walnut treads
- Box newels, open risers, floating stringers, and bullnose starts
- Matched species and stain to the adjacent hardwood floor
- Rise/run, nosing projection, and guards detailed to Ontario Building Code
Stairs are where cheap flooring companies get exposed. A 3/4" floor glued to a 5/8" plywood tread, a painted MDF riser next to a $14/sq ft oak floor, a nosing that trips the building inspector — we see it every week in the GTA.
Green Hardwood builds and installs hardwood stairs as a system: treads, risers, stringers, scotia, nosing, and the first-floor landing, all in the same species and finish as the floor — or in a deliberate contrast, usually walnut against white oak.
The most requested job in 2026 is converting builder-grade carpet stairs in Vaughan, Markham, and Milton new builds into solid oak box stairs. We pull the carpet, inspect the structure, sister anything that flexes, and install solid treads with returned ends on the open side.
Jobs East York keeps calling us for
- Broadloom removal and original-oak refinishing
- Narrow-flight stair retreads
- Kitchen-addition floor matching
Stairs in East York — questions
Looking for the full service detail rather than the East York view? Hardwood Stairs covers method, materials, and warranty. For everything we do in this city, see hardwood flooring in East York.