Painting timber stairs

pawdee

I have an old timber stairs with a horrible carpet that I can't afford to replace right now. As a temporary measure I'm going to paint the stairs white and either get a runner (and fit it myself) or do a painted on "runner" in a different colour. I've seen it done before and it looked quite nice.

Anyhow, having stripped the first tread and riser to see what was underneath I've uncovered something nasty. Some genius had previously fitted wood effect lino to the treads and risers using what appears to be bitumen that you'd expect to find on a torch on roof. It's still tacky to touch in places despite being there for years. I've tried sanding it off with the coarsest sandpaper I can find but to no avail. I might attack it with a wire brush fitted to my power drill but I don't fancy the idea too much although I think it would probably remove it.

Does anyone have any ideas? Is there a product I could prime it with before painting or does the blackjack or whatever it is have to go first?

Thanks!

dok_golf

If it is bitumen paint or adhesive, the only thing that will get rid of it is elbow grease. You could try heating it up with a hair dryer and using a filler knife or even better a blade, to scrape it off.

jlm29

Have you priced carpet? If I were you, I wouldn’t put in the work. It’ll probably take yonks. I would put the cheapest carpet you can find on it as an interim measure

guitarhappy

I did a flight of stairs and a whole floor with black adhesive like this. I tried everything, goof-off goop removers, mineral spirits, paint stripper. Then I gave up, decided to just wash it down with soapy water and cover it. Would you believe it, the hot soapy water dissolved it enough to scrape it off with a paint scraper/putty knife and the rest washed off with hot soapy water and a cloth rag. It was water based black lino adhesive.

pawdee

jlm29 wrote: »

Have you priced carpet? If I were you, I wouldn’t put in the work. It’ll probably take yonks. I would put the cheapest carpet you can find on it as an interim measure

That makes a lot of sense. You've saved me a lot of heartache. Cheers!

jlm29

pawdee wrote: »

That makes a lot of sense. You've saved me a lot of heartache. Cheers!

What you were describing sounded like a real labour of love- you could only do it if you intended to look at the results forever! A friend of mine carpeted her stairs and landing for around €240 recently. I doubt it will last too long, but it definitely looks fine for now!