Repainting Stairs

bercli

I want to repaint the stairs but I cant afford to pay anyone to do it. Could anyone tell me how to go about it? The stairs is currently painted white. I want to paint the banister a walnut colour and the spindles white. I assume I need to sand all first and then apply a primer. Can I use sandpaper or a sander? Sorry for the stupid questions but I have no experience of doing this.

Calahonda52

At the risk of dozy and other posters pi $$ ing on my ideas, lets give this a shot.
1, wash off all the grime with sugar soap. This is a paint cleaning product warm water, clothe vand some toerls to cstch drips.
Stsrt at bottom of each spindle and work up, this will avoid streaks.
2, then if the surfaces are very glossy, give them a light rub of fine sand paper. Try not to expose the wood.
Wipe off the dust with either more sugsr soap or white spirit
3, the spindles get no wear really so a water based paint will do.
Top needs hard wearing so oil based paint.
I would leave underside of hand rail white.
Do white first.

bercli

Ah thank you so so much. I didnt know where to start. I have no issue doing the work and I know it will take me quite a while but I just needed to be told what to do and how to do it. Couldnt have asked for any more, Thanks Calahonda52.

Calahonda52

Browse the web for other ideas, there are lots of forums eg http://www.diynot.com/pages/de

Used google advanced searches
Keep well

bercli

Thanks

sky6

That's a big task you're taking on. Many pros would shy away as it's tedious work. The success or failure is in the preparation, so don't rush it. If there's coats of old paint you might be better using nitromors stripper. Follow instructions on the can. Followed by a wash down to remove any residue of the stripper. As it would eat away at the new paint finish. Then a light Sandpaper to finish. Don't look at the whole job in isolation, just concentrate on a few spindles at a time. otherwise you'll put yourself off. Trust me it works and you'll get there in the end.
Do it right and you'll be proud of it for years to come, and look at the brownie points you'll earn also. Good luck with it.

slimjimmc

If you want to stain the handrail a walnut colour you'll have to strip it back to bare wood. Use paint stripper to remove the bulk. Scrape and sand away any remaining scraps of paint. Sand with a finer grade to get a smooth finish then stain/varnish. Additional coats will give a darker colour so apply light coats until you've achieve the desired shade. Follow the instructions on the tin.

Be careful with paint stripper. It can drip or run and get onto surfaces you never intended so make sure to protect floors, etc.

As Sky6 said, if there are many layers of old paint you'll get a better finish by stripping the spindles too. Just make sure to prime the stripped wood again before painting. If painting over old paint, sand lightly to take off some of the shine. This gives the new coat a key to grip to.

biko

You may want to consider just stripping paint off and leave the wood exposed with varnish.
Depends on the surroundings it can look good too.
http://www.pgflooring.ca/WS/wood-stairs-05.jpg