FLOORTRIM UK

How to measure your stairs for cladding (and which kit you need)

Updated

FloorTrim stair cladding parts come in fixed sizes — you’re not choosing a length to be cut to order, you’re choosing how many of each fixed-size part your staircase needs. Measuring for a kit is really a counting exercise: count your straight steps, work out whether you have a turn, and measure any landing depth. This guide walks through what to count and measure, and which part covers what.

The parts and their fixed sizes

Part Width Length Notes
Tread (UNO / QUATTRO straight steps) 340 mm 1000 mm Includes a 40 mm integrated nose
Riser 170 mm 1000 mm Décor on one face, white melamine on the reverse — reversible
Bullnose Stair Tread 340 mm 1200 mm Feature/bottom step, supplied with 1 riser
Winder Double Tread, 1200 mm 690 mm 1200 mm Finished nose on both sides; cuts diagonally into 2 winder treads
Winder Double Tread, 1360 mm 690 mm 1360 mm Used together with the 1200 mm board for a standard turn
Narrow Landing Board 170 mm 1000 mm Tongue-and-groove, joins to the wide board and grooved stair nose
Wide Landing Board 380 mm 1000 mm Sold in packs of 2 (2 × 380 mm); cut to suit on site
Stair Nose Profile 100 mm 1000 mm 12 mm thick, 8 mm clearance for the adjoining floor; 4 mm spacer available if you need extra height
Stair Nose Profile with Groove 100 mm 1000 mm Same profile, grooved to join landing boards instead

Every part is 1000 mm (or 1200/1360 mm for feature and winder treads) long by design — parts are cut to the actual width of your staircase on site, not made to a bespoke width. If your staircase is narrower than 1000 mm, you trim; you don’t order a custom size.

Step 1 — Count your straight steps

Walk the flight and count every step that’s a plain straight step (not a turn, and not a bullnose step at the bottom — that’s counted separately in Step 2). This count is what decides how many QUATTRO (4-step) packs and UNO (single-step) sets you need — see the cost guide for how that split is worked out. You don’t need to measure step depth or height for this — the tread and riser are fixed sizes and are cut to width on site.

Step 2 — Check for a bullnose (bottom) step

Check whether the bottom step is a bullnose step. A bullnose is a feature step at the bottom of the staircase where the tread extends beyond the main stair flight on one or both sides, leaving that side open rather than closed in like a normal step. Our Bullnose Stair Treads are laminate, so they have square ends rather than the rounded ends often seen on solid timber stairs. If your staircase has one, count it separately from the straight steps. If you’re unsure, send us a photo of the bottom of your staircase and we can help identify it.

Step 3 — Identify any turn (winder)

If your staircase turns rather than running in a single straight flight, that’s a winder section. The configurator’s standard option covers a 90° turn made up of three 30° winder steps, using one 1200 mm and one 1360 mm Winder Double Tread together — each board can be cut diagonally to form two individual winder treads.

Winder staircases vary considerably in layout, turning angle and number of steps through the turn. Before ordering, check the dimensions and angles of your existing winder against the standard 90°/three-step geometry. If your turn doesn’t match that — a different angle, a different number of steps through the turn — send a photo and basic measurements and it’ll be looked at separately rather than guessed from a standard part count.

Step 4 — Measure any landing depth

Our landing boards are supplied in 1000 mm lengths and are cut on site to suit the actual width of your staircase. For the configurator, you therefore only need to measure the landing depth. Measure the depth in cm from the top of the stairs (or the point where the landing starts) to where the landing ends.

Landing boards are supplied in fixed widths and are cut to suit on site. Wide Landing Boards are 380 mm deep and supplied in packs of two, while Narrow Landing Boards are 170 mm deep. The required combination depends on the actual landing depth. The front edge is finished with a Stair Nose Profile with Groove. Enter your landing depth in the configurator and it will calculate the appropriate combination of boards. If you are unsure, send us your landing dimensions or a photo with measurements and we can help work out the correct combination.

Step 5 — Decide how the top of the stairs finishes

At the very top of the flight, there are two options:

What to measure vs. what to count

You need to For
Count (not measure) Number of straight steps; number of bullnose steps; number of winder turns
Measure — landing depth in cm Any mid-flight landing (Step 4) or a landing at the top (Finish B)
Check against the standard geometry Any winder turn — confirm it’s a 90° turn over three steps before assuming the standard part count applies
Decide, don’t measure Finish A vs Finish B at the top of the stairs — this depends on what’s actually there (existing floor vs. a landing), not a measurement

When to send a photo instead of measuring

Several product pages point to the same option: if you’re unsure how many landing boards you need, whether your winder matches the standard geometry, or which stair nose height is right for your floor, send a photo with basic measurements rather than guess. This is offered specifically for landing board quantities, winder board quantities, and stair nose/spacer height — the three places a standard part count is most likely to be wrong for an unusual staircase.

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