$80 – $200 per step Treads, risers and nosings Matched to your floor

Stair refinishing in Toronto

Stairs take more wear than any floor in the house and show it first. Ontario Flooring Contractors sands and refinishes wood treads, risers and nosings to match the floors they meet.

Priced per step, so the quote is easy to check

Hand-sanded – stairs cannot take a drum sander

Carpet and staple removal included where needed

Nosings repaired or replaced where worn through

Price your staircase

Count the steps and tell us what is on them now – bare wood, carpet or paint.

What can we help with?

Service

So the right crew reviews your project.

No obligation. Any workmanship warranty is set out in your written quote, job by job.

$80-$200 Per step, refinished

13-14 Steps in a typical Toronto staircase

$1,040+ Typical single flight, 13 steps

2 Surfaces per step – tread and riser

Why stairs cost more per foot

Every stair refinishing job is hand work

A floor sander covers a room quickly. A staircase cannot take one at all. Every tread, riser, nosing, return and the awkward triangle where the stringer meets the wall is sanded by hand or with a small detail sander, and each of those surfaces then has to be coated separately with the same number of coats as the floor. That is why the honest unit is per step rather than per square foot, and why $80 to $200 a step covers such a wide band – a straight flight of open treads in good condition sits near the bottom, while a winder with returns, a worn nosing and forty years of carpet staples sits near the top.

What moves the price of stair refinishing per step

What is on them now

Bare wood is the cheapest start. Carpet means lifting it and pulling every staple and tack strip. Paint means stripping it, and older paint has to be handled carefully.

Stair geometry

A straight flight of box steps is the simplest. Winders, curved treads, open sides with returns and balusters left in place all add hand work.

Nosing condition

The nosing is the first thing to wear through. A worn nosing is repaired or replaced before finishing, which is real carpentry and priced separately.

Our Process

How stairs are refinished, step by step

1

Strip what is there

Carpet, staples, tack strip or old paint removed, and every fastener set below the surface.

2

Repair treads and nosings

Loose treads refastened, squeaks addressed from above where they can be, worn nosings repaired or replaced.

3

Hand sand every surface

Treads, risers, nosings, returns and the stringer edge, worked through the grits by hand.

4

Stain and coat

Matched to the floor at the top and bottom, then coats with drying time between, usually leaving half the flight walkable.

Light hardwood floor running through a kitchen, hallway and stairs in a King West home

Worth knowing

Matching refinished stairs to an older floor

Stairs and the floors they meet are almost never refinished at the same time, so the match has to be made deliberately. The advantage is that stairs are the smaller surface and they go back to bare wood anyway, which makes them the place to do the matching rather than the floor. We put sample stains on your actual treads, look at them in daylight and under the light you use at night, and only then commit. Matching from a showroom chip is how two wood surfaces end up almost the same.

Stair refinishing prices per step in Toronto

Toronto 2026, per step. A step means one tread and one riser.

Bare wood, straight flight

$80 – $120 / step

Already uncovered
Box treads, no returns
Sand, stain and coat
Simplest and fastest

Get a quote

Carpet removal included

$120 – $160 / step

Carpet, staples and tack strip out
Fastener holes filled
Sand, stain and coat
Most common scope

Get a quote

Complex or repaired

$160 – $200 / step

Winders, returns and open sides
Nosing repair or replacement
Paint stripping where present
Balusters worked around

Get a quote

Stair refinishing clients on the finished flight

Reviews collected directly from clients.

The team refinished our existing hardwood floors and brought them back to life. The colour looks great, and the final finish is smooth and consistent.

We had several damaged floorboards that needed repair. The team matched the new boards closely with the existing flooring and completed the work with excellent attention to detail.

Stair refinishing questions

Can I use the stairs while you work?

Partly. Coating is normally done so that half the flight is walkable while the other half dries, then reversed. There will be a window, usually overnight, where the whole flight is off limits, and that gets planned with you in advance.

There is carpet on my stairs. Is the wood underneath worth uncovering?

Often yes, particularly in pre-war houses where the treads are solid oak. What you find is staple holes, tack strip marks along the edges, and risers that were never finished because nobody expected them to be seen. All of that is fixable. What is not fixable is a tread that was never solid wood in the first place, which happens in some post-war builds.

Can you match my new floor to my old stairs?

Yes, and the match is usually made on the stairs rather than the floor, since they are the smaller surface and sanded to bare wood anyway. We sample on your actual treads before committing to a stain.

Will refinishing stop my stairs squeaking?

Sometimes. A squeak that comes from a loose tread can often be refastened from above while the stairs are open, and that is done as part of the work. A squeak coming from the stringer or from wedges that have dried out is a different repair and is quoted separately if it is accessible.

Stair refinishing in Toronto

Price your staircase

Every stair refinishing job is hand work

What is on them now

Stair geometry

Nosing condition

How stairs are refinished, step by step

Strip what is there

Repair treads and nosings

Hand sand every surface

Stain and coat

Matching refinished stairs to an older floor

Stair refinishing prices per step in Toronto

Bare wood, straight flight

Carpet removal included

Complex or repaired

Stair refinishing clients on the finished flight

Stair refinishing questions

Get a per-step stair refinishing quote