Red Oak Natural (Prefinished Clear) Traditional Stair Tread Closed 36 in

What you're describing is an open rise staircase. This type of staircase does not have risers and is typically supported by one or more metal stringers.

For this type of staircase, you need a special tread that is 1.5" or 2" thick - the standard 1" tread is not well suited for this application. We do make these types of treads in many species. See this link for the thick stair treads:

http://www.stair-treads.com/traditional-treads-and-risers/thick-stair-treads.html

You will want to move up a size to the 42" treads and cut to fit.

The finished thickness of our standard treads are 1" thick x 11-1/2" wide

The 1" treads are designed to be a standalone product so installing them directly on the stringer is typically fine.

Since the risers will receive no foot traffic, these 1/4" thick risers will last as long as their 3/4" counterparts. At worst, the riser will only receive an occasional kick from a toe as you travel upstairs. The main idea behind a retro riser being 1/4" thick is to keep the offset of the treads as small as possible- 1/2" less than a 3/4" riser. As long as these risers are installed over an existing riser, you should expect the same life-span from these as you would a 3/4" riser (30 years +).

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3/4" thick retro treads (or 1" traditional treads like this one) actually have more "sandable" wood than 3/4" flooring. With 3/4" flooring, you really only have about 3/8" of usable wood because half of the wood flooring is below the staple used to secure it to the subfloor.

If you were to sand a 3/4" floor to remove the top coat and refinish it, you would only have 3/8" of usable wood thickness to work with whereas should you ever decide to sand the retro treads, you will essentially have the full 3/4" body to use. This is really a moot point because the typical sand and refinish job only removes about 1/16" - 1/ 32" of wood at most.

Having said that, our prefinished treads have an average life expectancy of 30-50 years under normal residential use - the same as modern day prefinished flooring. Essentially, these treads will last for the entire life expectancy of the home.

Traditional treads are used to replace your existing stairs, you could lay them over your existing stairs but you would still need to cut the bullnose off to make it squared. If you want to overlay your existing staircase with treads we suggest using our retro treads.

http://www.stair-treads.com/retro-treads-and-risers/replacement-stair-treads/closed-box-treads/red-oak-natural-retro-stair-tread-closed-36-in.html