A staircase question

Hi all,

I used to post here quite a bit a few years back, when this board was rather smaller than it was now. Quite a lot's happened since then - moved to Melbourne to do a PhD (into a flat with no room for my lathe :(), finished that, moved back to Brisbane, got married, knocked her up :cool:, and decided to build a house. Had a lot of fun running around and talking to builders, and have come close to settling on one (I'd prefer not to name names just yet), but for one rather strange thing their salesperson told us regarding staircases.

Quite simply, I'd really like to have a nicely finished timber staircase, but apparently they don't do that. The salesperson said this is because they include some kind of tightening mechanism that can be used to get rid of annoying creaks as they develop, but apparently is unsightly enough to require being hidden under carpet.

This is a bit sad to me, because otherwise they seem incredibly flexible (compared to most other medium-large builders), and the price certainly seems right. But a fully carpeted staircase running down to the timber floored ground level just seems... well, nauseating.

My question is, does this explanation seem reasonable, or is he just fast-talking to cover something? Also, are there any workarounds, such as covering in floating timber flooring-type material?

Thanks!

Tristan

to cover something?
Ask the salesman are the stairs constructed of solid timber or MDF.:?
If they want the stairs covered I think they would be made out of MDF.:o

Well, he said "carpet grade" timber (as opposed to "stain grade") is what they would use.