Wood vs Metal Stair Railings for Houston Homes
Wood vs metal stair railings for Houston homes: looks, humidity durability, safety, maintenance and cost ranges compared. Get a free in-home estimate.
Harris County · Trim, Doors & Stairs
Is your Cypress staircase squeaky, worn or out of step with new floors? We rebuild and refinish stairs for Harris County homes with solid wood and tight fits.
Cypress is a large unincorporated area in northwest Harris County along US 290, extending to the Grand Parkway and beyond. It has grown from farm country into one of the region's busiest suburban areas. Cypress Creek runs through it, and Jersey Village and Tomball border it.
Cypress is mostly slab-on-grade homes in planned communities, ranging from 1980s neighborhoods to houses built in the last few years. Builder-grade kitchens, minimal trim and wire shelving are typical. Replacing kitchen cabinets with plywood boxes, adding stacked uppers, building out game rooms and installing closet systems are among the most common requests we see.
Humidity in Cypress causes hardwood to expand and contract through the year. We acclimate treads in your home before installation, leave expansion space at the skirt and use quality adhesives and fasteners to prevent squeaks and gaps. Stairs installed this way stay tight and quiet through humid summers and drier winter weeks. Gaps at the skirt are filled with flexible caulk rather than rigid filler, so movement does not crack the paint line.
Every project starts with an in-home measurement in Cypress. We build in our Houston shop and the same crew handles installation, so the person you talk to at the estimate is accountable for the result. Learn more about our full custom stair installations service.
We match tread species and stain to your hardwood floors or choose a contrasting look, such as stained treads with painted risers. Matching nosings and landing treads tie the stair into the flooring for a seamless transition.
Curved stairs, winders, bullnose starting steps and odd-sized treads are built in our shop. When stock parts do not fit, we make them, rather than forcing a standard piece into a non-standard stair.
Stairs carry real safety risk, and we treat them that way. Ace Kustoms is licensed and insured, and our own crew handles stair work from start to finish without subcontracted installers.
We install solid hardwood treads, typically 1 inch or thicker, in red oak, white oak, hickory, maple or walnut. Solid treads take sanding and refinishing over the decades, unlike veneered caps or laminate overlays that wear through.


Many Houston two-story homes have stairs built over a slab with a first riser that sits directly on concrete, and flooring changes on that slab often throw off the first step height. We measure and correct this so the first riser matches the rest. Humidity causes wood to move, so we acclimate hardwood treads in the home before installation and leave room for seasonal expansion at the skirt. Builder-grade stairs in the area are often built with stringers and pine or particleboard treads intended for carpet, which need inspection before hardwood goes on. Stairwell walls in two-story homes can be tall, so we plan scaffolding or ladders safely around them.
Houston humidity is the main thing we design around. Solid wood moves with the seasons, so we use furniture-grade plywood for cabinet boxes and shelves, and frame-and-panel doors that let panels float. Sink bases get extra finish protection, and in neighborhoods along bayous or in flood-prone zones we can raise toe kicks or use moisture-resistant materials on the lowest components. Keeping the house conditioned during installation helps everything settle in properly.
As a general planning range, a straight carpet-to-hardwood stair conversion in Greater Houston often runs about $150 to $350 per step for treads, risers and finishing, so a typical 14-step stair may land roughly between $2,500 and $5,500 before railing work. Curved stairs and custom parts cost more. Get a written estimate after an in-home measure.
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