Stair restoration

[RaceDiagnostics]

Already loosing the will to live. My Mrs wants a runner so I'll need to strip and make good the treads. Feels like I've pulled out about 1000 nails and staples. Plan to use a heat gune to strip the paint next. The treads are all in a bad shape.

 

[Morrisman]

My dad spent six months doing this to the wooden staircase, rails, doors etc in their 1930’s hallway. He bought no end of blowtorches, finger sanders, gadgets etc.
Once finally finished, coats of clear varnish went on….

….and it look awful. Different types of wood had been used in various door panels, stair spindles and treads etc, so it all came up a right mismatch of wood colours when finished.

Eventually mum got him to put a couple coats of white paint on it.

 

[bricol]

And I scrapped a couple of stairs worth of stair rods last year . . .

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

And I scrapped a couple of stairs worth of stair rods last year . . .

I'm going to keep my eyes open for rods at a good price.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

As above...some wood was never intended to be "on show" so might be better off sanding and repainting.

1930s might be pitch pine which usually does look quite good....maybe do a single tread as a test and see how it comes out?

Alternative might be oak covers...they do sell them specifically for this sort of thing

 

[rtcosic]

Another vote for covers!

 

[Gareth J]

Trial a tread that's restored to paint too. Even just flatting back the inevitable runs, filling big holes and repainting can restore the quality feeling.

Have done a couple doors recently and the difference is great. One thing that works well is to apply a some coats of primer with a wide paint scraper, has the effect of filling low spots, leaving a good finish while using less paint that you'd end up sanding back again anyway.

Fiddly, but less work than stripping. Probably.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

My plan is to get it smooth and paint, back to wood is too much work.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Step 1

 

[MetalMonkey]

If you haven't already, invest in a carbide scraper.
Thanks me later.

 

[Blobber]

Watch out for lead in the old paint

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

On our wood work we used hot air for the top layers...then stripper.

Think it took about 3 weeks...but we had so much paint on there that we'd lost all of the wood features so was well worth it in the end.

As above...well ventilate and use an appropriate mask.

 

[bricol]

Thing is, didn’t having to use a fixed width stair carpet indicate you couldn’t afford/were too tight to pay for fitted carpets?

I remember my grannies carpet constantly needing to be realigned under the stair rods, hopefully before someone too a tumble down

 

[chunkolini]

Mine were worse than this, shocking mess
in the end I went mad and bought a kit of parts to clad them in oak, cheaper than buying the oak in as plants and the edges were pre machined. Cut them to length and depth and glue over the old mess.Cames out damned fine if I say so myself.
Doing the 'winder' round the corner was scary but came out perfect.
I think is where i got the kit from

Oak Stair Cladding | StairBox

Give your stairs a whole new look with our stair cladding solutions | Newel Cladding | String Veneer | Stair Cladding

www.stairbox.com

I avoided this bit for a few days as I dont 'Do' angles
I was a happy puppy when I sanded it all down

 

[OJCar]

Step 1

View attachment 484401

Fancy learning how to do Scumbling ?
( Rather than getting all scraped and sanded back to a perfect surface to varnish ).

Combs

 

[Bullet2012]

Mine were worse than this, shocking mess
in the end I went mad and bought a kit of parts to clad them in oak, cheaper than buying the oak in as plants and the edges were pre machined. Cut them to length and depth and glue over the old mess.Cames out damned fine if I say so myself.
Doing the 'winder' round the corner was scary but came out perfect.
I think is where i got the kit from

Oak Stair Cladding | StairBox

Give your stairs a whole new look with our stair cladding solutions | Newel Cladding | String Veneer | Stair Cladding

www.stairbox.com

View attachment 484410View attachment 484411
I avoided this bit for a few days as I dont 'Do' angles
I was a happy puppy when I sanded it all downView attachment 484413

That looks great.

 

[chunkolini]

Racediagnostics
I think have a set of the brass bars used to hold stairs carpets somewhere if you are interested

 

[gaz1]

what look is your mrs after with the staircase

the original look of bare wood

the stained sides staircase with carpet in the middle ( pre victorian )

the victorian painted sides with carpet in the middle

bare wood will have wear and tear on them over the years they do wear down within the center this also shows even with stone staircases

stain or painted sides is a chore to clean one with the carpet to clean whilst just using a hose will pick up the side pieces

whilst carpeted middle protects the staircase from middle wearing away

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

5 down 13 to go. It's going to be painted white at the sides and tartan carpet in the middle.

This is a sample of the carpet runner going in.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Racediagnostics
I think have a set of the brass bars used to hold stairs carpets somewhere if you are interested

Stick up a pic if that's OK and I'll check with the boss. 18 steps.