How to Measure for a Stair Runner

DIY Measure for A Stair Runner

Here's How-to do it!

Article by Keith Shannon Carpet Installer for over 30 Years

How to Measure for a Stair Runner and or a Carpet Runner. So if you are looking for a DIY Stair Runner, Stair Runners or Carpet Runners are Usually Sold By the Foot and Can Be Installed by the Do it Yourselfer.

Or Can Be Hired Out to a Local Contracting Team!

Key Takeaways for Measuring a Stair Runner

1. Tools Needed: Tape measure, calculator, and paper for measurements.

2. Measure Treads and Risers:

   • Measure the distance from the bottom of one riser to the edge of the next for tread measurements (typically 18.5 to 19.5 inches).
   • Don't forget to include an extra riser at the top of the stairs.

3. Calculation:

   • Count the total number of stairs.
   • Multiply the tread measurement by the number of stairs and add the top riser measurement.
   • Example: For 12 stairs at 19 inches each plus a 6-inch top riser, the total length is 20.5 feet (include an extra foot for adjustments).

4. Runner Width:

   • Common widths are 26, 28, and 30 inches.
   • Aim for 3-4 inches of wood showing on each side of the runner for aesthetic balance.

5. Final Measurements: Confirm the final runner size needed based on your staircase width and desired wood exposure.

These steps ensure you accurately measure and select the perfect stair runner for your home!

Today Lets Teach You How to Measure your Stairs For a Stair Runner so you'll know how much Carpet you'll need!

Stair Runners Come in Many Different Widths but we will calculate that later, Let's see how long of a Stair Runner you're Going to Need first.

Stair Runner Calculator

Things you Will Need Before We Start Measuring for your Stair Runner

1. Tape Measure
2. Calculator
3. Pad of Paper

1. Measure the Tread & Riser all Together (Stair Runner)

The Picture Below illustrates what the Tread of the Stair is Exactly and How to Identify it, and the Same Picture Also Shows The Stair Riser.

A Normal Residential House Will Usually have 12 Stairs and 13 Risers. (Some will Have 13 Stairs and 14 risers)

Don't Worry About that 13 risers just yet, Lets Concentrate on Our first Measurement.

Take a Tape Measure and Measure the Distance from the Bottom of One Stair Riser and Run it Over the Edge of your Stair Down the Front of the other Stair Riser as seen in the Explainer Picture below!

You Should Come Up With a Measurement of Around 18.5 inches to 19.5 inches (This is the Standard Size of Most Stairs). Success! You Have your First Stair Tread Measurement!

2. Measure The Top Riser

Whether you have 6 stairs, 12 stairs or 15 stairs you will always have one extra Riser! That Riser Usually leads to a Stair Landing or an Upper Hallway. This is Your Extra Riser that Will Need to be Carpeted As well, So we Need to Measure it!

Put your Tape Measure Under the Nose of the Last Step (Upper Hallway or Landing) to the Bottom of the Riser and that's Your Riser Measurement!

3. Calculating How Much Stair Runner You Will Need!

Alright You've Got your Stair Tread and Riser Measurement! You've got your Top Extra Riser Measurement! Now it's Time to Calculate your Stair Runner Measurements and Marry the Two Together!

1. Count How Many Stairs You Have!

2. Take your First Stair Measurement that you took from tread to riser and Multiply that by the Number of Stairs you have.

For Example, if your Measurement was 19 inches per stair and 6 inches for the top Extra Riser this would be the Calculation: 19 inches x 12 stairs plus 6 inches top riser = 234 inches. Now divide that by 12 to get How many Ft. The Answer is 19.5 ft you will need For your Stair Runner.

Add one Foot Extra onto the length of your stair runner Just in Case, to Have a little to Play with. Trust Me on this, Always have a Little Extra Length for your Stair Runner. So by My Calculations you Would Need 20.5 Ft of Stair Runner!

How Wide Should My Carpet Runner Be?

Alright, so you've Graduated and Now Know How Much Length you'll need for your Stair Runner. Good Stuff! But How Wide Should Your Stair Runner Be?

1. Are your Stairs New or Old?
2. Do You Want to See a lot of Wood on the Sides of your stair runner or a Little?

How to Measure for a Stair Runner If your Stairs are old?

If your stairs are old and Have Seen Better Days you May Want to cover more of the Wood than Not. The Minimum Space gap on Each Side of your Stair Runner Should be no Less than 2 Inches.

Our Recommendation is 3 to 4 inches of wood showing on each side of your Stair Runner as the normal eye will not be able to see the adjustment from side to side.

How to Measure for a Stair Runner If your Stairs Are New?

The most common size of stair runner that we put in and sell at www.directcarpet.com is a 28 inch Stair Runner. A 28 inch Stair Runner is the Most Common Size of Stair Runner/Carpet Runner.

The Next Most Popular Size Down is a 26 Inch Stair Runner

And the Next Most Popular Size of Stair Runner is 30 inches. The Most Common Sizes of Stair Runners Are 28 inches Being the Most Popular and 26 inch and 30 inch stair runner being the Runner Up!

Personally After Installing Thousands of Stair Runners My Self, My Professional Opinion is I Like 4 Inches at Least, and at Minimum 3 inches will suffice, but I like a 4 inch gap for my stair runners, to me it just looks right.

Measuring your Stairs

So For Example, if your Staircase From Stringer to Stringer is 36 Inches Wide a 28 inch Stair Runner would Work Nicely. Let's do the Math: 36 inches - 28 inches = 8 inches. This Means a 28 Inch Stair Runner Would Work Perfectly Allowing 4 inches on each side showing just enough wood.

Conclusion

So We Learned how to Measure our Stairs for Our Stair Runner/Carpet runner. We Know that we have 12 stairs and one extra riser and that the length of our Stair runner needs to Be 20.5 ft long. Our Staircase is 36 inches wide from stringer to stringer or stringer to rail. We decided on a 28 inch wide stair runner. So the Answer to How Much Carpet We Need For Our Stair Runner is a Stair Runner that is 20.5 ft Long and 28 inches Wide!

I hope this Helped You Out! My name is Keith Shannon. I Am the Owner and Founder of DirectCarpet.com. I've Been a Carpet Installer for Over 25 Years and Have a Great YouTube Channel on How to Install a Stair Runner!

If You're Looking for the Perfect Stair Runner Sold By The Foot we Have that at www.directcarpet.com. We have Modern Carpet Runners, Classic Stair Runners and Designer Stair Runners, and we sell long Carpet Runners by the foot. We do Custom Orders.

How to Install a Stair Runner