Materials
Stairs can be designed using a combination of materials. Timber is the traditional choice and in recent times there has been a movement towards a combination of timber, steel, and glass. Popular timber choices include Oak, Pine, and composite materials such as Birch plywood and MDF.
All our timber is sourced from FSC certified forests, which means all our wood comes from managed and certified forests in accordance with FSC’s high social, environmental, and economic standards.
All materials listed can be used buy themselves, or in a combination to achieve your desired aesthetic and structural outcome. If there are any special material requests you have, be sure to let us know in the Additional Notes section when submitting your staircase design to our team.
American White Oak
Slow growing, dense and extremely tough makes oak the perfect premium material choice to build your staircase whilst providing a neutral canvas for staining, varnishing or waxing to match any environment. With an incredibly tight grain it generally has a yellowish tinge, so it’s not surprising it has become a more popular choice for our customers.
Oak is dense which makes it the perfect structural material if you are not worried about weight. Heavy materials are often chosen for staircases because of their structural and ‘good wear’ characteristics.
We use white oak instead of any alternatives, such as red oak, because the colour is more neutral in white oak compared to red. Red oak tends to have a ‘pinkish’ hue, which can present an unwanted challenge when you’re trying to stain, varnish or wax it to match the styling and colours in your home. On the other hand, this pinkish hue can be exactly what our customers are looking for.
If this is the case for you, then we can make your staircase out of red oak. Just make sure you add that into the additional notes when sending your design in to our team for a quote on our Staircase Designer.
Pine
With a much faster growth rate when compared to Oak, Pine presents an excellent alternative to oak with the main advantages being that Pine is cheaper, both as a material as well as being a ‘faster’ wood to work with which is especially important when you’re after unique and special features on your staircase, Pine is lighter than Oak and as it is a softwood it takes less post-finishing to get to your desired colour and finish effect.
Pine is arguably amongst the most eco-friendly timber choices. There are many species, and between them, they can be grown in almost any environment on earth. Almost.
MDF
Extremely safe, economical, fire retardant, and fire resistant, Medium Density Fibreboard is a popular composite material chosen by many as the main material in constructing their staircases. As a stair material it is cheaper than many other alternatives and lends itself to being painted to match your desired aesthetic outcome.
All our MDF is CARB2 certified, as well as being sourced from FSC approved forests.
Steel
Frequently used in modern staircase designs, amongst many other interior design elements within architecture, steel has a high tensile strength and extreme durability which means it requires little maintenance. Many of our customers who choose to build a staircase with steel, often use it alongside glass, and oak as complementary elements of a modern staircase.
Glass
If you’re looking to create a standout piece of your staircase or balustrade, then glass is the perfect addition to your staircase. Structural glass brings with it outstanding characteristics which often makes it an architectural staple in modern interior design.
Glass can be attached to a Staircase in a number of different ways to suit your taste. If you need more information about the usage of glass in your project then please feel free to contact us and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.