Easy Staircase Refresh With Gel Stain (Goodbye Nasty Carpet!)
The carpet on these stairs that leads down to our family room finally got under my skin enough to do something about. The damage our cats have done over the years was now impossible to overlook and I felt no matter how good the rest of the room looked the stairs dragged everything else down.
We hired the carpet company that installed the carpet to remove it. They said they had special tools to minimize the damage that would be caused by pulling out the staples. After the job was finished, we came to the realization that we, could have done better. Everything looked like it had been just ripped out and we were left with some of the treads having quite a bit of damage. The wood had actually been cracked on top of the treads in some spots. We had done a job like this previously on a different set of stairs and from that experience I can say we could have done better and saved ourselves some money.
Lesson learned…
After the carpet was removed I vacuumed and wiped down the stairs thoroughly. Generally I try to stay away from taping, it’s a step I don’t always find necessary, but in this case it was extremely helpful and during this project I had to do it twice.
The molding running up the sides of the stairs were full of scuff marks and dings that needed to be repaired. I also had to fill in the gaps between the wall and the molding edges running up and down both sides of the stair case. If your wall and moldings have the same problem and you skip this step, no matter how good a job you do staining, it will look unfinished.
- Fill in all holes, gaps and cracks before priming and painting.
I primed and repainted the sides of the stairs. The pine risers were bare and previously had nothing done to them, so I gave them a light sanding and a coat of primer to start. After that I applied two coats of paint.
Here is wear the time consuming taping comes in again. Once the last coat of paint was applied I removed the tape from the treads. Once the paint had fully dried I had to tape every where the moldings met up with the treads so none of the dye got on the fresh paint. I’m so glad I opted to tape. No matter how careful I was with the dye and poly applications I still managed to get quite a bit on the tape.
- I refinished two sets of stairs at the same time. Some of the pictures are going back and forth between the two but I used almost the same method to refinish both sets except for one step.
One of the sets of stairs had a polyurethane finish already on the treads. Before any scuff sanding, I cleaned them with mineral spirits and stripping pads.
These pads can be found at any hardware store. I just pored some mineral spirits onto a pad and did a light scrub on each tread to take down any shine.
When that was finished and dried I did a light sand, using a hand sander on most of the treads. Some areas I opted to use the electric sander to deal with some of the staple damage that had been left behind.
I chose to use gel stain on the treads. I had experience with this product in the past and I wanted to use it again. Its easier to use then regular stain in that it doesn’t seep into the wood, rather it stays on top of the surface you are staining so stripping prior to using this product, unless what your using it on is a painted surface, isn’t necessary. I did read that this product isn’t as durable as regular stain but I felt on my indoor stair treads it would be fine. We don’t wear shoes in the house so stocking feet wouldn’t be to hard on the tread surface.
I applied one coat of stain with a foam brush which gave me all the color I wanted. I let the stain sit for just a minute then wiped back any extra stain with a lint free cloth.
Since the stairs were in a high traffic area of our home I had to break the process up and stain every other step one day then went on to do the opposite steps on the next day. I had to repeat that procedure when applying the polyurethane as well.
I also applied my polyurethane coats with foam brushes. Because these are stairs, I applied six coats to ensure durability. I really like this product. It dries quickly and is very easy to apply. Between each coat I gave the treads a light sand. This portion of the project was the most time consuming due to having to treat every other step when adding additional layers.
In the long run it was worth the time and effort it took to update these stairs. They are so much fresher looking and I love the contrast of the the treads and the fresh white paint.
The railing hardware on both sets of stairs was a silver nickel finish which I no longer liked so I sprayed both sets with a flat black paint and primer from Rustoleum.
The black creates just a touch more contrast which I love.
The last thing I wanted to point out is how different this stain looks depending on what wood you are applying it to.
The image on the left is the stained oak stair treads and the right is the stained pine stair treads. Between the two I definitely prefer the oak steps but it is very nice no longer having to look at the nasty carpet on the pine steps. The sets of stairs are far enough apart in the house so the difference in color isn’t noticeable.
↑This is the finished set of pine stairs.
↑These are the finished oak stairs including an appearance of one of the carpet destroyers.
Thank you so much for stopping by. If you have any questions please reach out to me with them:)
Roni♥