After the shape, it is the second decision in a staircase project, and it sets the colour, the budget and the way the treads will age under your feet. Here is how I guide my clients, species by species, with the real material figures rather than adjectives.
The staircase is the most mistreated floor in the house: heels, gravel under shoe soles, falling objects, and dozens of trips a day in exactly the same spot, never ten centimetres to the side. The wood of the treads has to take that for decades. Two criteria therefore come before everything else: hardness and stability. Then come budget and taste, and that is where I can help you decide.
| Species | On a staircase | Material budget |
|---|---|---|
| Fir, spruce | Soft: the treads mark and hollow out. Light, perfect for painting | € |
| Beech | Hard, even-grained, smooth under the hand. Keep it for dry interiors | €€ |
| Ash | Springy, highly resistant to knocks, pale, lively grain | €€ |
| Oak | Hard, stable, protected by its tannin: the safe bet that ages gracefully | €€€ |
| Walnut, exotic species | Superb or very hard, but expensive, and often from far away | €€€€ |
To put real figures behind the symbols: at retail prices, a joinery-grade slab costs around €900 to €1,400 per m³ in beech, €1,100 to €1,600 in ash, €1,700 to €2,400 in oak and €3,000 to €4,000 in walnut, the same ranges as for furniture. Brought back to the finished staircase, moving from beech to oak raises the project by 20 to 30%, not double: the material is only part of the price, the rest is work. The full ranges, shape by shape, are in how much does a bespoke staircase cost.
Oak is the default answer, and for good reasons: hard (5 to 7 on the scale), stable, protected by its tannin, it ages better than it wears. A well-finished oak staircase crosses the whole life of the house, and its patina works in its favour. It is the wood of my alternating-tread staircase (escalier à pas japonais), in a natural chocolate shade: not a stain, a colour oak sometimes offers of its own accord, and a rare one.
The gold-underlined words are explained on hover. All definitions are in the joinery glossary.
Beech is the smart calculation: a little less hard than oak but easily enough for treads, even-grained, and the cheapest of the hardwoods. Two reservations, which I give you frankly: it does not like moisture (no cellar staircase, no soaked entrance hall) and it is a nervous wood, which moves more than the others if the slabs are badly chosen or badly dried. That sorting is done in the workshop, and it is exactly the kind of thing a catalogue photo does not show. The phenomenon is explained in why wood moves.
Ash deserves more success than it gets: it is the wood of tool handles, chosen to take knocks without breaking. Pale, with a well-drawn grain, it gives luminous staircases that stand up to a family's traffic. For a light-toned feel without paying the price of oak, it is my first choice. There is also a version known as olive ash (frêne olivier in French), where the heartwood tints part of the grain dark brown: very striking, very beautiful too, but less white.
Chestnut, oak's rustic cousin (€1,400 to €1,900 per m³), is at home in an old house of the valley.
My honest opinion: for the main staircase, if you are hesitating, take oak: I fit it without a second thought. If the budget is tight, beech does most of the job for markedly less, provided you keep it away from moisture. And I push nobody towards exotic species: some are very hard, but our woods do the work, I know where they come from, and the local sawmills supply me with beech and ash. Walnut is sumptuous, but at its price I keep it for furniture, where the eye strokes it up close.
Let's talk about fir and spruce, because it is the budget question and it rarely gets a straight answer. Yes, a softwood staircase costs markedly less: in standard manufacture, allow €800 to €2,500 for the supply, against €1,500 to €5,000 in beech or oak. And yes, it will mark: these woods are roughly three times softer than oak. A heel, a falling toy, a piece of furniture carried upstairs: every event leaves its trace, and in ten years the tread nosings polish and hollow where everyone puts their foot.
That is not necessarily a flaw. In a mountain house, on a staircase painted or left raw, those marks become a patina: the staircase tells the story of the house. And a softwood sands and repairs easily; I talk about it in renovating a creaky staircase. What is not acceptable is discovering it after the fact. So I say it beforehand: fir for a secondary staircase, an assumed style or a constrained budget, with your eyes open. For the main staircase of a family home, go up a notch in hardness.
A word on shop kits, while we are at it: read the label closely. The treads are often in beech: nothing shameful on the strength side, but neither the look nor the ageing of a chosen solid wood. The word 'beech' on the label does not tell the whole story.
The cleverest pairing, and I recommend it often: structure, stringer and risers in an economical wood you paint, and treads in a hard wood left natural. Wear touches practically nothing but the treads; the painted parts freshen up in a weekend with a roller. A stringer painted grey or black with oiled oak treads is also one of the finest ways to modernise a stairwell without replacing everything.
My octagonal alternating-tread staircase is built that way: chocolate oak treads on a central spruce spine, and the contrast of the two species is part of the design. You can also step outside all-wood with a central steel spine and solid timber treads: the prices of that workshop-and-metal pairing are in the article on staircase prices.
Bare treads grime up within a few months, so the question is not 'should you finish' but 'how'. Two real options: varnishing (vitrification in French), which offers the best everyday resistance but is renovated by a complete sanding once the film is worn; and hard oil, which protects a little less but is repaired tread by tread, without resanding the whole staircase. My alternating-tread staircase is finished with hard oil: it is the choice I gladly make on my own pieces. I compare the two in detail in varnish, oil or wax for your wood floor: the logic is the same for stair treads. As for wax: not on a staircase. It is slippery, and a slippery staircase is not an aesthete's detail, it is a fall.
No, if you know what you are buying: it costs two to three times less than oak, but it is soft and the treads mark: heels, toys, gravel under shoe soles. On a secondary staircase, painted, or in a mountain style where the marks become a patina, it is in its place. For the main staircase of a family home, I advise something harder: beech, ash or oak.
Yes, and it is often the best calculation: structure, stringer and risers in an economical wood (often painted), treads in a hard wood that takes the wear. I built an alternating-tread staircase with chocolate oak treads on a central spruce spine: the contrast is part of the design. You simply have to check that the two woods behave in a compatible way: that is my job.
Varnish or hard oil. Varnish stands up better to traffic but, once worn, is renovated by a complete sanding; oil protects a little less and is repaired tread by tread. Wax is to be ruled out: too slippery for a staircase. I compare these finishes in detail in my article 'varnish, oil or wax for your wood floor': the logic is the same for stair treads.
Photos or a visit on site: I show you oak, beech and ash for real, with their finishes, and I price the two options that tempt you. The quote is free and the decision is yours. I speak English, so feel free to call or write in English.
+33 6 03 57 45 47Reply within 48 hours, or in writing: contact@agencementklein.fr
