DIY Wooden Staircase strip/varnish advice needed!

barrymanilow

Hi ,


I took a very awful carpet up off a staircase in a house that I am trying to do up .


There was a little carpet glue to deal with too which is still visible on the square section .


This is what the staircase looks like now ;



[IMG][/img]IMG_20180815_174333 by

IMG_20180815_174315 , on Flickr

[IMG][/img]IMG_20180815_174327 , on Flickr

I'd like to either paint it or varnish it . Whichever is easiest considering its current state .


As you can see there is paint on either side of the steps .


So how would I go about getting the paint and carpet glue off ? Is there some paint stripper I could soak on it and then go at it with a scraper and wire brush ? Would white spirits do ?



Then I guess I need to sand the wood down . Would a palm sander do or will I need to rent a larger machine ?


After that is it just a case of filling a few holes in the wood with putty and then putting on a few coats of varnish ?


Appreciate any tips from someone who does this or has done something like it before ,


Thanks a mill ,


Barry

hesker

Nitoromors or a hot gun are generally used. Plus sanding. You can google use of both. Either way it’s a lot of work as all the nooks and crannies are a pain.

If it was me I would sand back to a good surface and paint again. Then lay a nice new carpet.

Lumen

I haven't done this for over 30 years, but from what I recall the nitromors is more idiot proof as you can't burn the wood.

But are you really sure you want to go down this rabbithole rather than just replacing the carpet?

barrymanilow

Lumen wrote: »

I haven't done this for over 30 years, but from what I recall the nitromors is more idiot proof as you can't burn the wood.

But are you really sure you want to go down this rabbithole rather than just replacing the carpet?

I'm not sure i want to go down that rabbithole ! , would it be a massive job to get it down to a decent surface by sanding ?

Could I just leave it as it is after painting then ? Why would laying new carpet be preferable ?

Thanks

looksee

Because to varnish it is going to take a lot of tedious work and at best it is going to look average. To paint it would be a bit easier, but the paint will wear off pretty quickly where you step. Also in both these cases you end up with (in my opinion, and I know not everyone feels the same way) a clattery stairs that tends to be slippery-ish if you are wearing socks. Painting the edges then putting on a carpet strip will look very tidy, comfortable and take a fraction of the time.

stiofan85

I had the exact same a year ago - that stairs is a complete replica of what I found under an ancient and disgusting carpet. Went down the route of sanding/stripping/sanding....sanding and more sanding...old staples from old carpet/underlay buried in the wood kept coming up and no matter what stain blocker/paint I used I couldn't get it to look good.

Also, the stairs was noisy and the paint would get dirty very easily.

I now have a lovely carpet thanks to Mr. Des Kelly and the stairs is much quieter.

Save yourself a lot of hassle and just carpet it!

yellowlabrador

I papered mine. There are lots of videos on youtube on how to go about it. It worked out to be cheap, cheerful and very nice. I made sure the treads were smoothed and the used pieces of brown wrapping paper glued down with pva. I then covered that with varnish.It looks like leather.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh9wEiT-QLg