Bringing a Staircase back too wood.

Wood working questions and answers in here please

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diablo wedge
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Bringing a Staircase back too wood.

Post by diablo wedge »

Wonder if someone could help, we have just laminated the landings in a three storey town house and are now left with the actual stairs that are painted white under the carpet. What we need is some tips on how to get the stairs back to wood and how to treat them for heavy foot traffic afterwards please? Thanks. :shock:
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ultimatehandyman
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Post by ultimatehandyman »

Hi and welcome to the forum!

This is going to be difficult and time consuming, so I hope you have plenty of patience :wink:

Removing the paint is difficult, there are several methods that you can try. The best thing to do is try a couple of ways and then use the one that works best.

The thing that concerns me is that the paint has probably been there for decades and so could contain Lead!

You can get the paint tested, but it is expensive and so it is best to assume that the paint does contain lead. Probably the safest and quickest method is by using a chemical paint stripper, such as nitromors. You are going to need some good quality protective gloves and goggles and follow the instructions that come with the paint stripper.

Apply the paint stripper and leave for as long as the instructions say and then scrape off the stripper and the paint and dispose of safely.

You can then sand the wood, but be sure to use a sander attached to a vacuum and still wear a mask. Only sand once all the paint has been removed as you do not want Lead particles in the atmosphere! A delta sander would be good for getting into the corners.

Now you can clean the wood down with some white spirits, just wet a clean lint free rag with some white spirits and then clean the wood.

Give it a couple of hours to evaporate and then you can varnish the stairs. You can get several different kinds of floor varnish, I am sure that every person has his or her favorite. I used Yacht varnish on my Beech bathroom floor and it has lasted over 16 years so far.

You can take a look here at many of the products that are now available-

http://www.woodenflooringsales.com/rons ... /index.php

There are probably products better than varnish, but it is something I have not done for years, ther is a contact button on that site and so it might be a good idea to see what they suggest for your stairs.

I wish you good luck with this as it is not an easy job!
Only-Me
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Post by Only-Me »

Took me 2 years........bit here and there :roll:
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dirtydeeds
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Post by dirtydeeds »

some people laminate the stairs as well as the floors

you have to be confident of your skills to do this, stairs are not a diy thing
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