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Taken the carpet off the stairs in our 1930s place. Everything was glossed before hand so stripping back years and layers of paint at the moment. We are going to paint them all in eggshell and leave it at that so I have three questions for the DIY gurus or pros;
Wood is dented, scew holes, old woodworm flight holes etc. Also doing door frames and picture rails. What filler which is easy to apply over a wide area, easy to sand and doesn't fall out?
Where the wall stringer meets the not square wall there is a gap. Filled it with caulk 10 years ago but since cracked. What flexible, paintable filler for this and also some gaps on the treads?
And lastly the stair paint -anyone done this with kids in the house and not killed them or a bad idea? I've heard of grippy paint and also clear tape apply but don't know how they look or feel, or indeed last
Any experience or advice would be great, ta
No real help but stairs always move so getting rid of gaps with filler is going to be tricky.
If the walls that meet the stringers are lathe and plaster that's your problem as there will always be movement. Previously I made hole along the wall just above the stringers and foam filled them to stop any further movement then filled and caulked them. That sorted it for me.
Started off down this route.
No matter what I did it looked shite. Mines had been varnished in "shiny creosote" or possibly tarmaced before I started though .
Clad my stairs in routered profile solid oak flooring in the end. Far better and in doing so it added rigidity to the stairs so the eternal creak was banished.
Had to do similar to ours, but twice, as I mistakenly used modern low VOC rubbish gloss that yellowed in a year.
I found Zinnser BIN primer covers just about anything if you give it half a chance and a bit of a sand. Regular white Ronseal wood filler for filling bits with no movement, then everbuild 175 acrylic flexible sealant for anything that does.
Used proper matt finish floor paint on the treads, was far too slippery and my wife slipped down them as she has a habit of walking on the tread edges. Fitted a stair runner shortly after, looks nice with the painted treads and sides etc.
With kids as well, I would just get a nice stair runner and change as needed. They will get hammered loads even if nobody slips, chipped paint on the edges will make them look tired very quickly.
The Toupret wood (pre-mixed) from Toolstation is easy to apply and sand. Used two tubs it so far on the stairs, door frames, architraves etc. in our 1905 house full of dents, marks, nail holes etc.
Just doing our stair now. Old carpet up, rough sanded with electric sander, filled with Toupret, fine sand with sander and Zinnser BIN stain stopped. Just looking at paints. Ronseal Diamond hard doesn't get great reviews so thinking of V33 Renovation White Satin Floor paint (unless anyone has any better recommendations?)
I did ours a while ago, 30s house, stairs were full of carpet staples, dents, cracks etc. I didn't go mad trying to get a perfect smooth finish and regular quick drying fine filler was OK for most of the job. Where the risers were split the wood is going to move and the gaps re-open. Used Ronseal Diamond floor paint, 3 or 4 coats and it has worn on the edges quite quickly, I'd also not recommend it if kids are running up and down in sock feet as it is slippery if not careful. We'll be putting a runner up when I get some spare cash (and I'll be repainting before that goes on).
I'm just in the process of getting a 1901 house and currently stairs are glossed. I'm thinking of stripping bottom staircase handrail back to the wood and oiling it. What's in vogue for stripping these days as paint stripper seems a bit useless?
At that age, could be the case the older paints have lead in it, so stripping back to bare wood may need some caution?
Good point. Bearing that in mind, any ideas? I recently stripped some ancient oak doors of varnish and I used a combination of stripper, detail sander, oxalic acid, brass wire brush and a lot of elbow grease. I imagine I'll end up doing something similar as I'm wary of a heat gun leaving a stain plus the lead issue.
Also at that age there is a chance of joins or the wood not being that consistent in terms of colour.
Unless it is a hidden gem of gorgeous hard wood and you have loads of time, I personally wouldn’t bother. You would need to take off a lot of surface to remove all paint traces and the profiling could make it very fiddly.
Thank you, 'was having such doubts. It's not as though it's a great big decorative newel. Will Strip a bit and repaint.
Cheers all. Also decided painted stairs with no carpet likely to be a lot more hassle than it's worth for a finish that likely won't be great and not very practical. Also noisy without carpet!
We actually had a stringer with chrome stair rods, looked great when it was freshly done a decade ago but the gloss hasn't aged well and the wife always complained the rod clamps were a dirt magnet. Never bothered me but was a bit minging when taken up. Stripping the stringers and Newell posts back to bare at the moment (that's not been done before, some interesting shades on there!), the rest that's in good nick will just get a key sand and all redone in diamond eggshell. The carpet fitter is coming to quote for full width carpet later this week, life's too short...