Stair Treads and Risers
Our stair treads and risers combine safety, durability, and style for residential and commercial projects. Available in bluestone, granite, sandstone, limestone, travertine, and marble, each piece is cut for precise installation and designed to withstand heavy use and harsh outdoor conditions. Choose bullnose or pencil edge finishes to match pool surrounds, garden steps, alfresco areas, or indoor staircases.
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Treads, Risers and How They Go Together
The tread is the piece you step on. The riser is the vertical face between one tread and the next. On a stone staircase both are supplied as separate cut pieces and bonded to a concrete or block substructure, which is built first and then clad.
Our treads are long single pieces, typically 1210mm, at 30mm thick. Risers are thinner, around 20mm, because they carry no load. Bluestone is a good example of the standard set: a 1210x350x30mm tread with a 1210x170x20mm riser.
Buying the tread and riser as a matched pair from the same stone is what makes a stone staircase look built rather than tiled.
Bullnose or Pencil Edge
This is the decision that changes the look of a flight most.
A bullnose tread has a rounded front edge. It is softer to look at, kinder if someone catches a shin on it, and it suits traditional houses and pool surrounds. It is also the safer choice where kids run.
A pencil edge is a squared front with the arris just taken off. It gives the sharp horizontal shadow line that contemporary architecture wants. On a wide flight the difference is obvious from across the garden.
Pick one and use it on every step in the flight. A mixed flight looks like a repair.
Getting the Dimensions Right
The tread depth and the riser height are set by the concrete substructure, not by the stone, so the substructure has to be built to suit the stone you are buying. Get the sizes off the product page before the formwork goes up, not after.
Two things catch people out. First, every step in a flight must be the same height, including the top and bottom ones, and adding a 30mm stone tread on top of a concrete step changes that height. Account for the stone thickness in the concrete. Second, treads should fall very slightly forward so water runs off rather than sitting on the step.
For piece counts, divide the width of your stairs by the tread length and round up, allowing for a joint. Order a spare. Cutting a replacement tread later from a different crate rarely matches.
Choosing the Stone
A step surface takes concentrated wear on a narrow band of stone, so hardness matters more here than it does on a flat terrace.
Granite in an exfoliated finish is the most durable and the most slip-resistant when wet. Bluestone is the Victorian default and handles heavy use well. Travertine and limestone give the warmer, softer look and are perfectly sound for domestic stairs. Marble in the anti-slip finish is the most refined of them.
Whatever you choose, match the treads to the paving they lead onto. Almost every stone in our range has treads, copings and pavers in the same colour and finish, which is the whole point of buying them from one place.
Where Stone Treads Get Used
Front entries and porch steps, garden stairs linking terraced levels, pool steps, and the transition from an alfresco floor down to a lawn. Sloping blocks are the common case in Melbourne and Sydney, where a couple of steps between levels turn an unusable slope into two flat garden rooms.
Indoors, stone treads are used on entry stairs and on split-level landings, usually in the same stone as the floor.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a tread and a riser?
The tread is the horizontal surface you walk on. The riser is the vertical face between steps. They are supplied as separate pieces, with treads thicker than risers.
How thick are stone stair treads?
Ours are 30mm, with matching risers around 20mm. Both bond to a concrete or block substructure.
Should I choose bullnose or pencil edge?
Bullnose for traditional houses, pool areas and anywhere children use the stairs. Pencil edge for a contemporary square-shadow look. Use the same profile through the whole flight.
Can outdoor stone treads be slippery?
Not in the finishes we sell. Exfoliated granite, natural split bluestone and tumbled travertine all have textured faces with good wet grip. Avoid polished stone on any exterior step.
Do treads come in one length?
Most are 1210mm long. Wider staircases are made up from several treads with a joint, so work out your piece count from the stair width before ordering.