I've fallen down plenty of times on carpet, mostly from missing a step altogether or fumbling my walking, but I've never actually slipped on carpet. Wood floors, on the other hand, tend to create problems for me almost every day. Imagine carrying a fidgeting pet while navigating a flight of wood stairs!

Wooden stairs probably contribute to more broken hips and elbows and fractures than you can imagine. Nothing like smooth bare wood to give you a nice runway landing from your stairs. I don't see anyway carpeting could make you slip unless it is installed poorly and coming loose? Could you explain how it is making you fall? Is it not attached to the flooring or walls or baseboard?

I agree with the other comments above, if anything I'd say carpeting seems safer than varnished wood. Not sure where the logic is going with this post...

I've slipped on both carpeted and wooden stairs (same house, carpeted stairs to go to 2nd floor, wooden stairs to go to the basement). Wooden stairs created worse bruises than the carpeted ones.

Slipping on carpeting is easy if you put your foot down wrong, mostly due to losing traction (as weird as it sounds) since bare feet can "stick" to wooden stairs. However, if wearing socks/shoes/slippers most often while using stairs, they'll get better traction on carpeting than on wood. I personally prefer the aesthetic of wood stairs (or if carpet has to be there, to only be a runner), but also normally walk around home barefoot.

My old house had carpeted stairs and then wood. The wood looked so much better and I only slipped one time, when I was wearing really slippery acrylic socks. In bare feet or slippers it was never an issue. I think the wood looks so much better, so if you're worried, then wear rubber-bottomed slippers.

Funny, I just had carpet runners installed on both my staircases (to the 2nd and 3rd floors) this morning. We have 2 young boys, our 5 yr. old fell hard down the wooden stairs last month, and the 2 yr. old is just learning to go down stairs by himself, and the wood was hurting his bum. While I much prefer the look of wood, the carpet runners are essential for us.

I think both are equally slippery but I know they have cool ain't slip removable stickers you could put down on wood stairs that come in different designs you just have to look for them

When we moved into our home, there was thick pile carpeting on the stairs and I would slip constantly. If you step onto the stair without your full foot hitting the stair, it is very easy to slip. Since I tore up the carpet, I haven't slipped at all. I just went with the hard wood and tacked low-pile Flor tiles that I had cut in half on the stairs for increased traction.

I've lived with wood floors all my life and have a hard time seeing how they can be treacherous ... unless you're on roller skates! Sure, they're a bit slippier than carpet -- especially if you're wearing socks or shoes with not-so-practical soles -- but I'll take the durability and easy-to-clean factor of hard surfaces over carpet any day. Also, with carpet you miss out on the joy of watching your pets fish-tail around corners.

Pro tip: if you find yourself slipping a lot, go barefoot or wear shoes/slippers with a grippy sole.

Totally understand this issue! Having grown up in a house with old wooden steps that were on the shallow side, and having moved into a newer home with completely carpeted steps has made me slip too many times. I think I'd contribute it to the softened edges. With wood, the edge is clearly defined, and my feet know what they're touching. On the carpet it's all soft and fuzzy so the edge can come without warning.

I'm a total fan of wood stairs.

while i've slipped equally on carpeted stairs and non (i've a long history of klutziness), my preference would always be bare, if only because it's far easier to dust-mop than vacuum a flight or two.

I have 2 sets of bare wood stairs going up and down from the main level which we use in both directions everyday in our split-level house. They are slippery suckers - but between myself, my husband, 3.5 year old son, crawling one year old and 2 cats - no one has ever slipped or fallen on the stairs. I do worry about guests slipping and falling and have contemplated adding Flor strips or the like to them to make them less slippy.

Boy do those stairs collect and show dust and dirt though. I have to sweep and wipe them down a couple of times a week just so i don't get squicked out by them. So with the carpet at least you don't have to look at the dirt pile-up...

Both have their pros and cons. My stairs are carpeted, mostly for warmth and quiet. Wooden steps are noisy. Also, the stairs are contiguous with other carpeted areas, so it flows.

The only times I have had issues with carpeted stairs were when I wore very slippery leather soled slippers, and a couple of times where I simply mis-stepped (which I am capable of on flat ground!)

Wooden stairs are more expensive to install and more work to maintain, unless you have runners (which, again, are carpet) or go with the worn-down-the-center look.

Most carpeted stairs I have known do NOT have nice wood underneath. If you rip out carpeting on these stairs, you may confront plywood, both for risers and treads. Almost certainly not pretty hardwood, even if pine planks were used. So, even if you prime and paint whatever is there for risers, you may need to rip out and replace the treads with custom-cut routered hardwood which then needs staining and sealing, maybe with polyurethane or a marine varnish, or something...

It occurs to me that I haven't lived in a multi-floor home since I moved out for good, so I'm usually wearing shoes on stairs. I also almost never wear socks without shoes on over them, and am usually barefoot in my house.

The house I grew up in had low-pile carpeted stairs from the first floor to the second floor. Everyone in our family fell up or down them at least once a year. They were pretty slippery, especially with socks on. The stairs to the finished basement had what I guess was a very hard, flat carpet (not sure what it's called), and we never slipped--socks, shoes, or barefoot.

Socks on non-hard carpet = slippy slippy slippy!

I love the look of wooden stairs more than the look of carpeted stairs. But we have carpeted stairs going to the 2nd floor of our home and then bare wood ones going to the basement.
I have never fallen or slipped on the carpeted ones (we have new carpet) but I have already fallen twice on the wooden ones, so severely that the bruises I had looked like I had been crushed. We have little ones so for now for sound and safety we're keeping the carpeted stairs. That and we just can't afford hard wood ones financially as it is an open staircase and it costs a fortune to re-do.

I love our wood stairs. No slipping here (yet).

The problem with carpeting is how it wraps the nosing of the stair and is stapled/nailed back at the riser. Depending on the pile of the carpet, the corner actually has a minimum turning radius that isn't as tight as the 45 degrees of the stair. This creates a little pocket under the carpet that just floats above the treat and this causes the slip.

One solution to this is to have the carpet fastened at the nosing of the stair. I'm not sure how this would look though.

Stairs usually come with a bannister. Using it usually prevents slipping and falling.

One of the first things we did when we bought our house was carpet the stairs. Best decision we made. The narrow stairs, nicked named "death trap" by some friends, we extremely slippery before the carpet was installed.

I moved into my house with no carpeted, very shallow stairs. I fell once in the middle of the night as I went to use the bathroom (no upstairs bath!), because I was trying to step on more traditional, deeper stairs. Luckily, it was only on the 3rd or 4th step, and I landed in a hard squat at the bottom.

I have never missed a step since then. Painful lessons are the best teachers. :)

And, owning a dog who sheds constantly and tends to choose the stairs when he wants to vomit, I would never want carpeted stairs.

Actually, after tearing up the carpeting in my house and seeing what dirt and filth lies underneath (dirt, hair pins from the 1970s, pet urine stains from who-knows-when), I wouldn't choose to carpet anything, ever.

I fell from the top of our stairwell straight to the bottom (wood stairs) while holding my dog. I didn't drop him and basically went down the whole way on my back/butt. I think carpeted stairs are safer but we haven't installed any yet.

Wood stairs, especially the ones made with the new, extra glossy, engineered wood, could be very slippery. But they look so much prettier than the carpet! In our last place, we installed non-slip tape that we got online. It's clear and textured and we just put it near the edge of each stair. It was close to invisible, but definitely increased the friction.

We have wooden stairs, and the rule at home is bare feet or shoes, no socks when going up and down. Also, wooden stairs can be a death trap when wet (people coming in dripping from beach or pool). Carpet is harder to clean, but it IS safer.

My grandma had wooden stairs in her house and the entire family had fallen down them at one point or another. I lived with her for a while and on a regular basis my feet would slip out from under me and I would skid down the remaining stairs on my butt.

I say, install an elevator! ;)

I have lived in two houses with carpeted stairs, two with varnished wood stairs and three with painted wood stairs. I have slipped on carpeted stairs and on the painted stairs but have yet to slip on varnished stairs ... I think because in my mind I think the varnished stairs will be too slippery I slow down and I am more careful, but who really knows! I prefer bare feet in the house too, so my feet seem to stick more on the wood I think. Also of note, kids will do ridiculous silly things on carpeted stairs, like sliding down them on their bellies, which they won't even dream of doing on wood stairs, but sometimes they do set up little games of miniatures on the stairs & pretend it's an apartment building or something, so then there is the added bonus of maybe stepping on a plastic horse & falling down the stairs LOL. It's all dangerous in some way!

We're looking into stair treads (there are some decent woven options). Flor had flor treads out last year but I'm pretty sure they were discontinued.

We're in the process of pulling up the old carpet from our stairs, and agree with the above posters. Its slippery and not a good combination with socks

Are you sure it's the carpet that's making the stairs slippery? My moms stairs have a very shallow tread. You need to walk down the stairs in first position to make sure that the foot makes maximum contact with the tread without leaving half of the foot jutting over the front of the tread. It's very dangerous. We've all fallen on them. The house isn't that old. It was built in 1986. So, I think this is a case of failure on the part of the inspector to catch it. Before you rip out the carpet, check your measurements.

Wooden stairs are easier to clean. Generally speaking, wood is more slippery. If you go barefoot a lot or wear rubber soled shoes, you should be fine though. If you wear socks or slippers with slippery soles, you will slip eventually.
I know because we went from wooden stairs to carpeted.
My dog finds carpeted stairs a lot easier to navigate.
Before you tackle this project, take a peak under the carpet and make sure it doesn't turn into a major renovation requiring new stairs.

I hate HATE carpet. Spills, allergies, slippery, traps smells. What's to like?

I have had wood stairs for 17 years and never slipped although my daughter did once when she was about 7. She had stuff in her hands and didn't hold on! I like the look of wood without carpeting; several of my neighbors have thick wrap around carpeting and I don't like it at all.
I have carpet from the main floor to the finished basement (Berber pile) and have also never slipped. I needed it for this set of stairs and like the look of very thin carpet.

I preferred wood stairs, especially if you live in warmer environment (California, etc.).
Carpet get dirty and vacuuming each step is pretty hectic, not friendly to allergic people.
Wood shows character, they could be easily sanded and refinished where carpet don't (carpet replacement is costly).
Anyway, stairways steppers, just be careful, hold onto hand rail all the time. I rarely ever slip, even bare-footed.
Socks? Forget about it. Slippers? Okay.

I have lived in houses with both, and I constantly fell down carpeted stairs, to the point once of badly spraining my ankle. I hate attached carpeting with a passion, it's never cleaner than it is on day one, and it can 'date' a space so quickly just by plushness and color. Give me tile or hardwood floors and area/scatter rugs any day. As for stairs, it is much easier to make safe stairs out of wood, metal, or stone and add grips.

I tore out medium-pile carpet, which was somewhat slippery (I know what you mean! Aggravating!) and painted the wood. I'm always sock-footed in the house.

I just can't afford to fall, so I simply don't let myself bounce down the stairs or carry things unless very cautiously. Actually, it's a good mindfulness exercise. When I'm going down the stairs, I'm focused on the fact that I'm going down the stairs.

A friend was descending her wood stairs wearing rubber-soled shoes and bell bottoms. One pants leg got stuck on the sole of the other shoe; she fell and broke her thigh bone. So now I'm always especially careful and sometimes even hike up my pants legs, or place my feet a bit further apart than normal. Sometimes safety just has to come first. Maybe always!

I've lived with wood and tile my entire life and when I've only ever slipped on rare occasions in heels. It looks amazing, and it's easy to clean. I say rip out the carpet

When we were redoing our stairs, I fought and fought for hardwood for both the look, and the cleanliness. It's a lot easier to give the stairs a quick sweep than to lug out the vacuum. I ended up losing the battle after the cost argument. For the price of hardwood, we could have carpet professionally installed 3 times. I'm actually glad we went with carpet. I don't need to vacuum it NEARLY as often as I feared, and it's a very light color. And nobody has fallen down the stairs. When we have had wooden stairs in the past, my husband took quite the tumble down them, and the kids slipped on a regular basis. I will always prefer the look of wood, but for practicality the carpet won in our house.

I tore out a staircase's worth of nasty pile carpet a few years ago, mostly because it was ancient and totally disgusting. The wood underneath was gorgeous, and no one has ever fallen down those stairs. The ultra low pile carpet on the stairs down to the basement caused me to lose my footing (in bare feet, no less!) and slide all the way down on my arse. Wooden stairs, all the way.

I fell down our wood stairs (exactly like this pic!) holding our then four month old and my shoulder still hurts three months later. I've also slid down old carpeted stairs where the carpet has worn through. Best solution so far was a chevron jute runner I recently saw, it's on our to do list now.

I will also say that when I mop I just have to be extra careful not to leave excess Bona on the stairs. That stuff turns wood floors into a skating rink!!

* I guess it's a femur, huh. Whoops.

I recently fell down our carpeted stairs while carrying a laundry basket (thank goodness it wasn't our 2 month old son!) and caught my foot on the rail. I broke one toe, and sprained 3 others. That said, I have fallen down carpeted stairs in our old duplex about 5 times, and wooden stairs in my Grandma's at least that many as well (most notably while carrying a bottle of coral nail polish which flew and shattered dramatically as I bounced gracelessly down). Maybe in my case it's less the stairs and more me that is the problem.

You're right. Carpet on stairs gets slippery...especially as the edge around the nose wears and flattens. You get a waterfall effect. When you fall, you seem to slip backwards and fall on the small of your backbone and keep going down several stairs. It's painful and terrifying. Is this why our grandmas used to cover the stairs with that plastic???

Wooden stairs are not more slippery for humans. They do seem to be a bit more slippery for my dogs though. Wood is more slippery if your feet are wet, but seems to be better than carpet all around. You will need to wear slippers all the time on hard wood. It can be hard on your feet. If you suddenly have back or foot problems, it's probably because you're walking around on wooden floors with no slippers.

Good luck replacing them. I have all wood now. Not cheap.

People have been falling down stairs for centuries. Probably since stairs were invented. That being said, as an adult I have only ever fallen down carpeted stairs, and I climb a lot of wooden/stone stairs on a daily basis.

I've never injured myself falling down wooden stairs, but I have slipped barefoot down one carpeted stair and managed to land directly on the tip of my big toe, simultaneously dislocating the joint and tearing the tendon. I had to use crutches for 4 months while it healed.

I'm tempted to put at least a runner on our wooden stairs as I'm fed up of having to go barefoot or with outside shoes. I really bruised the sole of my foot, too, when I slipped on the edge of one step one time. Also I hate the noisiness of wood.

The first change I made to our current house was to add rectangles of FLOR carpet tiles to our stair treads. I cut them to size. It only took a week of watching our Boston terrier crash at the bottom of the steps to remedy the situation. I think the carpet helps me, too, though I occasionally slip on the bare edge of the stairs.

It all depends on the type of carpet, the type of finish on the wood, the type of footwear, and even how sweaty or dry bare feet are. And how attentive you are when you use the stairs. There is no single answer.

I've noticed a huge difference in just the finish on wood stairs. Some polyurethane or varnish isn't slippery at all and on other steps it feels like glass coated with motor oil! OK, not quite, but seriously, HUGE difference.

Stuff you can do to keep from falling: pay attention. Don't wear loose socks, slippers, shoes, spike heels, etc. Use the hand rail. Don't carry something so big that you can't see the treads. Turn the light on. Don't rush.

I come from a family that has Olympic-quality skill in slipping on/sliding down stairs. We trained for it as kids in laundry baskets. That being said, I have both painted and unpainted wood stairs in my current home, and I've only ever slipped on the painted stairs. Easy enough to remedy by mixing some texture into the paint and throwing down a new coat. The benefit of carpet is that it's usually a softer landing. :)

It probably has more to do with a person's individual gate/walk/clumsiness than anything else. Like I said, my brother and I can glide down pretty much anything.

My family recently moved into a house that originally had carpeting throughout the house and on the stairs. I did slip on the steps several times -- kind of a skiing down a slipped step down to the next one or two. Not fun. We were ripping out the carpet anyway because it was beat up and an off white colour and having the lovely, original red oak floors refinished. We picked rubber soled slippers that help avoid slipping on the wood floors and stairs and it feels much safer to walk down in the morning before coffee.

My parent's house has tight, berber-weaved, carpeted stairs that I have not ceased to slip down every time I visit. Socks, shoes, barefeet, whatever.

This sounds gross, but what I did notice is that there is obviously a lot of foot traffic on those stairs. And despite my mother's best efforts to keep the stairs vacuumed and clean, there is an inevitable "slick spot" on the edges that you can see in certain light, from what I can only assume to be dirt and oils from walking on them. WIPEOUT!

Berber can be particularly hard to clean, especially if it's a poor quality Olefin or petro-plastic kind (it looks great on the samples, but beware!!!!). Basically, what you end up with are "melted" berber loops or fused fibers caused from the foot traffic throughout the years that no amount of vacuuming or cleaning can repair. As a matter of fact, many cleaning agents make it worse. Slick-city on a flight of stairs.

. . . . . .at least that's my theory.

We re-carpeted our stairs due to a nervous pregnant wife. We went with a very low pile berber carpet. It definitely offers a better grip than our non carpeted stairs.

Get rid of the stairs!!!

i actually broke my tailbone 10 years ago falling down a flight of wooden steps. if carpet isn't an option, i'd edge each wooden step uniformly with something grippy so it's still safe enough and doesn't impede the aesthetics.

Landing on carpet, assuming it's thicker, would be much nicer, but I've never slipped on wood while descending stairs (though I have while walking around a corner on a flat floor).

Carpet gets so dirty and nasty. I'll take the hardwood option every time! Even my 3 yr old twins know how to navigate up and down the stairs safely - no horsing around on the staircase. I think one would naturally be more cautious on hardwood steps - carpet gives you a false sense of security. A happy medium would be cork steps. Softer than wood, durable and easy to clean. Do they even make stairnose out of cork??

My kids slip and fall constantly on our hard floors (wearing non-skid socks and barefoot, no less)...I can't imagine what would happen on stairs without carpet! Our old apartment had steep, uneven stairs with cheap carpet that wasn't attached well; I would slip off the edge of the steps on a regular basis. But other family members' homes have quality carpet that's installed well, and I've seen no issues, even when there's a horde of little cousins running up and down at top speed. The problem is that carpet shows wear quickly, and probably needs to be replaced more often than the rest of the carpet, so it's best if the stairs are hardwood with a runner, and then any adjacent carpet coordinates but doesn't match the runner exactly.

As someone with the klutztastic skill of falling UP a stairway (concrete no less, but hey it was Red Rocks Amphitheater, and worth it), i have misstepped on bamboo floors, but only had the sliding luge effect on carpet. And that I have done many times over my 43 years.
Sure, banisters are on the wall. But many things require two hands...like moving in.
I call those falls inaugural falls.
Worn wood with a bit of texture? No problem at all. Let the stair treads be lived in. They are safer.

Or get a spiral. I don't seem to go more than a step in a fall on spiral stairs.

No depth perception is no fun.