Sanding and painting stairs - good products to use?
Sanding and painting stairs - good products to use?
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Discussion

bigtomski

Original Poster:

374 posts

219 months

Yesterday (19:09)
quotequote all
We've ripped off an old minging stair carpet and my wife is keen for us to sand and then paint the stairs, getting a result like in the photo below.

We do like the contrast between the white risers and darker treads.

Anyone got any recommendations as to what products to use?

Thinking it might be wise to possibly think about non slip stuff?

I have someone that'll do the work for us, I just need to provide him with the right products



Simpo Two

91,260 posts

288 months

Yesterday (19:15)
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bigtomski said:
I have someone that'll do the work for us, I just need to provide him with the right products
Proper paint stripper, if you can still get it, and lots of sandpaper. Lots of corners to get into.... That's a helluva job; I'd just carpet it!

bigtomski

Original Poster:

374 posts

219 months

Yesterday (19:20)
quotequote all
Ha, no someone rise is doing the stripping and sanding.
There’s no way I’d want to do it

I’m just wondering what the best paint or finishes to use, I’m far from a diy’er!

21TonyK

12,950 posts

232 months

Yesterday (19:21)
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If you can find a solution to working around the spindles you might want to google "timber cladding for stairs"

Much quicker and may give the results you are after.

mart 63

2,397 posts

267 months

Yesterday (19:38)
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It will be virtually impossible to strip the treads and stain them perfect, you will see the lines where the paint was. Just sand the treads and coat in an opaque woodstain and put a couple of coats of non slip clear floor varnish on top.

Simpo Two

91,260 posts

288 months

Yesterday (20:34)
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bigtomski said:
Ha, no someone rise is doing the stripping and sanding.
There s no way I d want to do it

I m just wondering what the best paint or finishes to use, I m far from a diy er!
The hard bit is getting the old paint off. After that it's easy. Or as someone suggested just slap on brown paint. Or try woodgraining...

21TonyK said:
If you can find a solution to working around the spindles you might want to google "timber cladding for stairs"
Having done that you might be right!



Edited by Simpo Two on Sunday 15th March 20:37

babelfish

999 posts

230 months

Yesterday (22:12)
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My niece stripped her stairs with the intention of staining them. She filmed it. It Went viral.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cdv8P4tASsC/?utm_so...

She ended up carpeting it.

Simpo Two

91,260 posts

288 months

Yesterday (22:31)
quotequote all
babelfish said:
My niece stripped her stairs with the intention of staining them. She filmed it. It Went viral.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cdv8P4tASsC/?utm_so...

She ended up carpeting it.
Yuk!

But on 'recommend testing for lead paint beforehand'... was she planning to eat it?

James-gbg1e

418 posts

103 months

Yesterday (22:35)
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Simpo Two said:
Yuk!

But on 'recommend testing for lead paint beforehand'... was she planning to eat it?
Bizarrely enough, inhaling lead particle from sanding vigorously for hours on end isn't very good for you. Mask or otherwise.

Actual

1,573 posts

129 months

Yesterday (23:48)
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Go glass and carpet







Edited by Actual on Sunday 15th March 23:52

gangzoom

8,089 posts

238 months

bigtomski said:
We do like the contrast between the white risers and darker treads.
We went with the opposite design but to get the contrast you are after you need to have oak/hardwood treads. Any contrast between the threads and rest of stairs I think looks fab, but I'm not sure you can achieve it without some major work to the stairs.

We essentially took a picture from Neville Johnson, showed it to our builders and they found a local stairs company to build it.

Someone has suggested what sounds like essentially Oak treads that will cover the existing treads, that's worth exploring.

The Oak treads on ours feels really nice to walk on barefoot or with shoes, you do need to think about transtion at the top. We went with engineered wood in the landing upstairs, but it took the fitters a bit of work to ensure the stairs and than flooring all meet at the same level.





Edited by gangzoom on Monday 16th March 06:17

Cow Corner 2.0

38 posts

3 months

I think it’s going to be a lot of work to get from where you are to where you want to be - though it depends on whether you are happy with it looking a bit rustic, or whether you really want the ‘new’ look shown.

Though you’re getting somebody else to do it then guess it just depends on what they’re charging wink

Personally, I would be tempted to compromise and use a stair runner, which would maintain the classic look but save a lot of work, be more durable and less danger of slips.

And yes, there is a very real danger from inhaling dust from lead paint - a competent contractor would be testing it and putting in control measures (both for their staff and for you living there).

Regardless of lead content, you will want to make sure they are putting adequate dust control measures in place, or you’ll find your whole house will be covered in it.

DoubleSix

12,379 posts

199 months

If the person doing the work cant supply a detailed list of the required products (because they have done it many times before) then you really don’t want them doing the job.

Simpo Two

91,260 posts

288 months

James-gbg1e said:
Bizarrely enough, inhaling lead particle from sanding vigorously for hours on end isn't very good for you. Mask or otherwise.
She was using paint stripper. No dust.

wolfracesonic

8,854 posts

150 months

For the treads and risers, use a Bahco scraper, extremely effective, then some oxalic acid to try and clean the dirty centre section and make everything look uniform; just do one tread to see if you’re happy with the result: stripper for the spindles.
Though as said above, a runner for the treads, less slippy, quieter.