Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Hardwood on stairs question.

Hi, newbie here.
I' ve decided to put hardwood floring on my house' s stairs. I have a Bruce prefinished harwood 2" 1/4 wide by 5/16" thick and random lenghts. I have to start to install the treads from the stairnose side for obvious reasons, but I won' t be able to blind nail anything since the nailer won' t fit with the proper angle. I have two options:
1) Top nail (or face nail) everything and hope that the filler I bought (suggested by the manufacturer) hides the nails.
2) Glue everything down.

Does anyone have any idea how the nail hiding might come up on the stairs? Is there some kind of strategic placement of nails in order to make it easier to hide them? If somebody suggests to put them where the spring growth is, please let me know what does it mean.
If glueing is better, are Liquid Nails the way to go? I really don' t want to use glue because I' m afraid that it will be a mess since I' m doing it.
Thanks.

I glue and blind nail all my staircases. The back of the tread is top nailed so the riser peice covers the nail holes.

Your stairnoses are grooved. At least all the stairnoses I've worked with. Cut and dry fit the tread. Rack it in place where it goes and tight. top nail along the riser to hold the board or boards there in place. disassemble the rest and liquid nails on the back of the boards. I run two beads down each side of the board. Assemble with the glued boards while also blind nailing with your finish or brad nailer. The stairnose piece is glued and top nailed, with the nail holes filled with color match wood filler.

Thanks for the suggestion. I' ll have white risers. Is it OK if, in order to avoid cutting the existing bullnose, I just take the new riser board as high as the step and I screw/nail it in front of the original bullnose using some shim blocks (as thick as the overhang of the original bullnose) in between the new and old riser. Doing so I' ll have the 90 deg corner I need to install the new stairnosing. The treads will have the same depth as before, but everything will be shifted forward by the new riser thickness (3/4" in my plan)
Thanks again.

Yes, that is one way of taking care of the bullnose. Perfectly acceptable.

Remember to start at the bottom of the staircase and work your way up one piece at a time.

Another thing I forgot to ask: which kind of nailer and nails do you suggest for this application? The strips are 5/16" thick. Any tips on how reduce (almost zero) gaps between the treads end and the stringers, besides measuring twice and cutting once? For different reasons I' ll have to start the installation from the top down (at the bottom the stairs make a curve and I don' t feel confortable start from the most complicated part). for a given step I' ll install the riser first, and follow your suggestion. I plan to cover gaps and nail heads where the tread meets the risers with 1/4 round. Will it look bad/unprofessional?
Thanks.

Stairs must be started at the bottom and worked to the top! Then continue with the rooms off of the top step.

1/4 round trim on stairs looks HACKED in, like someone didn't know what they were doing... YUCK!!! :thumbdn: :thumbdn: :thumbdn: