Cost to Install Laminate Flooring on Stairs in 2026
Stairs are priced per step, not per square foot. Each step (tread, riser and stair nose) runs $74 to $122 installed, and a 13-step staircase $965 to $1,590, depending on the plank. Labour is about half of that, roughly $41 to $61 a step, and the stair nose is the biggest material cost. Whether to hire a pro depends on your stairs more than the money: overhanging treads, open sides and the code's riser rule are where a pro earns the fee.
Updated 15 November 2026 · How we priced this
How much does it cost to install laminate flooring on stairs?
Installing laminate on stairs costs $74 to $122 per step in 2026, stair nose included: $74 to $110 budget, $79 to $117 mid-range and $84 to $122 premium. A 13-step staircase totals $965 to $1,590 and two flights (26 steps) $1,929 to $3,180. Of each step, about $41 to $61 is labour (our estimate, working below). Replacing carpet adds about $8.66 a step for removal.
Cost by Staircase Size
Installed totals for straight, enclosed flights (walls on both sides, square-edged treads), national prices. Carpet removal, landings and open sides are added in the step estimator below.
Curved and winder stairs are quote-only. A winder tread tapers (the IRC lets it narrow to 6 in at the inside of the turn), so every tread, riser and nose is cut to its own shape. We found no published price for that work, so we do not put a number on it.
The Per-Step Cost Breakdown
Four lines make up every step. The totals in the table above are these lines times the number of steps.
A code-minimum step is 36 in wide with a 10 in tread and a 7.75 in riser, so tread plus riser is 4.44 sq ft. We add 10% waste and price it at the tier's shelf price ($0.99 to $3.99 per sq ft). No underlayment: the stair instructions we read say none goes on steps, and a plank's attached pad is removed first.
Floor & Decor's 94 in laminate stair noses cost $40.99 to $44.99 a piece (most at $41.99), or $5.23 to $5.74 per linear foot. One piece covers two 36 in steps. You buy whole pieces, so an odd number of steps leaves half a piece spare. On mid-range planks the nose costs more than the planks themselves.
Stair laminate is glued, not floated. Bostik's Tread-Lock data sheet calls for a bead about 1 in in from the edge of every tread and riser, an S pattern every 6 to 8 in across the tread and a bead along the nose. On one step that is about 234 to 245 in of bead; at the sheet's 1/4 to 3/8 in bead that is 0.63 to 1.48 of a 10.1 oz tube ($12.99 at Floor & Decor). Bostik does not publish a per-step coverage, so this is our calculation. Fasteners are not priced.
Time x rate. 18.5 to 27.7 minutes a step x $132.21 an hour = $40.68 to $61.02, rounded to $41 to $61 in the rest of this page. It covers measuring, cutting, gluing and fixing the tread, riser and nose.
- Time: 4 to 6 hours for a straight 13-step flight. No manufacturer, retailer or government source publishes a time per step; this figure comes from one flooring information site's installation guide, which we could not verify. It is the least certain number on this page.
- Rate: the BLS mean wage for floor layers (May 2025) is $29.69 an hour. In the 2022 Economic Census, flooring contractors billed 4.453 dollars of work, after materials and subcontracted work, for every dollar of installer wages. $29.69 x 4.453 = $132.21.
- What the rate holds: the installer's own pay and benefits are about $42.70 an hour (wage x 1.44, the BLS construction-industry ratio of total compensation to wages). The rest is the firm's other staff, vans, insurance, overheads, any margin on materials, and profit. Because it carries the materials margin, it may run high for a labour-only job.
For comparison, the same 4.44 sq ft of flat floor costs $8.88 to $13.32 in labour at Home Depot's $2.00 to $3.00 per sq ft. Stairs take longer per square foot because every tread is measured, cut and glued on its own.
Estimate Your Staircase
With 13 steps, no carpet, no landing and no open sides, the estimator gives the same figures as the 13-step row in the table above.
Count your treads, pick a plank tier and add what your stairs need. Same figures as the tables above.
1 to 40. Count treads, not risers.
Planks $1.89 to $2.99/sq ft: Home Decorators Collection, Pergo Outlast+ XL (Home Depot); HydroShield Plus (Floor & Decor)
0 if none. A 3 x 3 ft landing is 9 sq ft.
Open side = exposed tread ends that need a return.
- Laminate planks (tread and riser)$120 to $19013 x 4.44 sq ft + 10% waste
- Stair nose$267 to $29313 x half a 94 in piece
- Stair adhesiveestimate$106 to $2510.63 to 1.48 tubes a step, from the data sheet's bead pattern
- Installation labourestimate$529 to $79313 x 18.5 to 27.7 min at $132.21/hr
Based on a 36 in wide step with a 10 in tread and a 7.75 in riser, national prices. Not included: bullnose or curved steps, cutting back an overhanging tread, stair repairs, tools, and labour for open-side returns. Lines marked estimate rest on assumptions explained in How we priced this.
Replacing Carpet on Stairs With Laminate
If your stairs are carpeted now, the carpet, pad, tack strip and every staple have to come out before any plank goes down: the Project Source stair-nose instructions say the stairs must be cleaned of "loose paint, carpet staples, debris, wax, or old adhesives" first, and Bostik says the old surface must be sanded clean for its adhesive.
Home Depot says removing old flooring costs $1.95 per sq ft on average, depending on the floor type. Applied to each step's 4.44 sq ft that is $8.66 a step, $113 for 13 steps. No retailer publishes a stair removal price, so treat it as a starting point, and ask whether haul-away is included.
If your treads have a rounded lip that overhangs the riser, a laminate stair nose may not sit on it as it is, and the lip may have to be cut back. The SimpleSolutions stair-nose instructions say you "may need to first alter the shape of the tread" and that "a professional stair contractor may be required for certain installations". We found no published price for this: it is quoted per job.
Planks with a pad attached lose it on the stairs ("Attached pad must be removed prior to installation of flooring plank on stairs", Project Source). Pergo Outlast+ XL, for example, is 10 mm of plank plus a 2 mm pad. Peeling pads is extra time on every step.
Worked example: 13 mid-range steps with carpet removal come to $1,135 to $1,640.
Landings, Open Sides, Bullnose Steps and Nosing Labour
Landings
A landing is flat floor, so we price it per square foot at the same installed rates as a room: $3.39 to $4.93 budget, $4.08 to $6.29 mid-range and $5.29 to $7.39 premium, plus one more stair nose ($20.50 to $22.50) for its front edge. The 5-in-1 stair-nose instructions say landings take the overlap version of the nose where more than 8 ft of flooring runs perpendicular to it, to leave the floor room to expand.
Open-sided steps
Where the end of a tread is exposed, the instructions have the nose and its base mitered at 45 degrees to wrap the return, and the riser end finished with trim. The instructions do not say how much stock that takes, so we assume about one tread depth plus one riser height of nose stock and price the riser trim at stair-nose prices: $7.74 to $8.49 per open side per step in materials (estimate) at $5.23 to $5.74 per linear foot. The mitre work takes extra time that no source puts a figure on, so the estimator adds the materials only and the labour is quoted.
Bullnose and curved starting steps
A bottom step with rounded ends needs its plank and nose cut to the curve. None of the stair-nose instructions we read prices or times this, so it is quote-only, like winders.
Nosing labour
Fitting the nose is part of the per-step time above, not an extra: the instructions set it after the tread (Shaw: tread, then riser, then stair nose). Each nose is cut to the stair width with a small gap at each end, glued, and fixed with screws or finish nails; Shaw asks for 12 hours before foot traffic. No source splits the per-step time between tread, riser and nose.
What the Building Code Says
The International Residential Code sets the stair's geometry, whatever the flooring. Your city or county adopts and may amend it, so check locally. The limits that matter when you add laminate (2021 IRC, R311.7.5):
- Risers: no more than 7 3/4 in, and the tallest riser in a flight no more than 3/8 in taller than the shortest.
- Treads: at least 10 in deep, nosing to nosing.
- Nosings: projection of 3/4 in to 1 1/4 in (not required where the tread is at least 11 in deep), with a radius no more than 9/16 in or a bevel no more than 1/2 in.
- Runners: tread and riser dimensions are measured without carpets, rugs or runners.
The riser trap. Laminate raises every tread by its thickness. The risers in between stay the same, but if the floor at the foot of the stairs is not raised too, the bottom riser grows by the plank's thickness; if the floor at the top is not covered, the top riser shrinks by the same amount. A 10 mm plank is about 0.39 in, already more than the 3/8 in the code allows between risers. Ask how your quote deals with the bottom and top risers before work starts.
DIY or Pro: What the Numbers Say
On 13 mid-range steps, labour (about $41 to $61 a step) is $529 to $793 and the materials alone are $493 to $734, so doing it yourself saves the labour line: 48 to 56 percent of the bill across the three tiers. The same guide that supplied our pro time puts a DIY flight at 8 to 16 hours (an estimate). Spread over that time, the saving is worth $33 to $99 an hour, before the chop saw, drill and other tools the instructions call for. On a plain straight flight, the money alone does not say hire a pro.
The stairs themselves decide it. The work is to the sixteenth of an inch (Project Source cuts the nose 1/16 in short at each end and the tread 1/8 in short at the back), and a loose tread is a fall hazard: Bostik's data sheet warns that "Failure to use appropriate mechanical fasteners may lead to slipping or falling down the staircase." Hire a pro when the treads overhang and need reshaping, the sides are open, the stairs turn, or the bottom and top risers would end up uneven. For a straight, enclosed flight with square treads, a careful DIYer can do it.
The Carpet Runner Add-On
A runner over laminate stairs is optional. Cut-to-length runners at Home Depot ran $4.28 to $12.97 per linear foot on the day we checked. A runner covers about 1.48 ft per step (tread plus riser), so $6.33 to $19.18 a step or $82 to $249 for 13 steps in materials. We found no published installation price, so get that quoted. The code measures treads and risers without runners, so a runner does not change the stair's code dimensions.
Common Stair Laminate Questions
How much does laminate cost per stair tread?
Installing laminate on one step (tread, riser and stair nose) costs $74 to $110 with budget planks, $79 to $117 mid-range and $84 to $122 premium, so $74 to $122 overall. That covers planks, half of a 94 in laminate stair nose, adhesive and labour. A 13-step staircase comes to $965 to $1,425 budget, $1,022 to $1,527 mid-range and $1,092 to $1,590 premium, and two flights (26 steps) $1,929 to $3,180. Carpet removal, landings and open sides are extra.
What is the labor cost to install laminate flooring on stairs?
About $41 to $61 a step, or $529 to $793 for 13 steps. This is our estimate: no manufacturer, retailer or government source publishes a time or price per step. We take 4 to 6 hours for a 13-step flight (18.5 to 27.7 minutes a step) and a billed rate of $132.21 an hour: the BLS mean floor-layer wage of $29.69 times 4.453, which is what flooring contractors bill per dollar of installer wages after materials, from the 2022 Economic Census. The same area of flat floor would cost $8.88 to $13.32 in labour at Home Depot's last published $2.00 to $3.00 per sq ft, which is why stairs are priced per step.
How much does it cost to replace carpet on stairs with laminate?
Add about $8.66 a step for taking up the carpet and pad ($113 for 13 steps), so a 13-step mid-range job runs $1,135 to $1,640. The removal figure applies Home Depot's average old-floor removal rate of $1.95 per sq ft to each step's 4.44 sq ft of tread and riser; it is an estimate, because no retailer publishes a stair removal price. Treads with an overhanging rounded lip may also need cutting back before a stair nose fits, which is quoted separately.
Should I do my own stair laminate?
On a straight, enclosed flight with square treads, a careful DIYer can. Labour is 48 to 56 percent of the bill: $529 to $793 on 13 mid-range steps, against $493 to $734 for materials alone. If the job takes you 8 to 16 hours (an estimate), that saving is worth $33 to $99 an hour, before tools. Hire a pro when treads overhang and must be reshaped, sides are open, the stairs turn, or the risers would end up uneven.
What is stair nosing and why do I need it?
Stair nosing is the piece that caps the front edge of each tread. On laminate stairs it is a separate moulding glued and screwed or nailed over the front edge of the tread; the Pergo, Shaw and 5-in-1 stair instructions all use one. The 2021 IRC (R311.7.5.3) requires a nosing projection of 3/4 in to 1 1/4 in on stairs, unless the tread is at least 11 in deep, and a nosing radius of no more than 9/16 in. Floor & Decor sold 94 in laminate stair noses at $40.99 to $44.99, which is $20.50 to $22.50 a step at two 36 in noses per piece.
Does laminate on stairs meet building code?
The code governs the stair, not the flooring brand. The 2021 IRC (R311.7.5) caps risers at 7 3/4 in, sets a minimum tread of 10 in, and says the tallest riser in a flight may not exceed the shortest by more than 3/8 in. Laminate raises every tread by its thickness, so if the floor at the foot of the stairs is not raised too, the bottom riser grows by that amount: a 10 mm plank (Pergo Outlast+ XL once its pad is off) adds about 0.39 in, already past 3/8 in. Ask how your installer handles the bottom and top risers, and check with your local building department.
Should I use a carpet runner over laminate stairs?
It is optional. Cut-to-length runners at Home Depot ran $4.28 to $12.97 per linear foot, about $6.33 to $19.18 a step for the tread and riser, or $82 to $249 for 13 steps, before installation, which we found no published price for. The IRC measures treads and risers without carpets, rugs or runners, so a runner does not change the stair's code dimensions.