Want to paint stairs, have removed carpet today but what a mess underneath..

puddy

We hate carpet and had initially compromised to say that we would have floorboards upstairs and a carpet on the stairs. Then we thought we would have painted stairs.

So we have taken the landing and stair carpet up but the state of the stairs underneath, quite soft looking wood, I wouldnt be able to say what type, big cracks in the risers, thick paint on the edges and some sort of black stain on other bits, gluey lumpy bits.

Ive also been reading today about painted stairs being slippery.

Has anyone painted their stairs? (not with a stair runner, left them uncarpeted)

horseykitty

I stayed in a holiday cottage last year that had painted stairs and I would say that they could be absolutely lethal if you weren't wearing slippers or in bare feet - they were so slippery if you just had your socks on.

daffodil

I pulled up my stair carpet recently and varnished the wood and put carpet tiles on the flat parts - looks really good and stylish and its just as safe as a carpet. Couldnt get the exact size - had to cut to size.

bownyboy

Do it. I ripped up ours a couple of weeks ago. We had horrible blue stuff. Looks 10 times better. Yes it can be slippy with just socks but the paint I used was Matt finish so not glossy.

Couple of photos below. Need another coat. We may end up carpeting once we get boiler and pipework replaced.

greyteam1959

Gonna be a noisy house !!!!!!
Clomping about upstairs on the bare floorboards then clomping up & down the stairs.
What about the neighbours ???
:p

PasturesNew

mervyn11 wrote: »

Gonna be a noisy house !!!!!!
Clomping about upstairs on the bare floorboards then clomping up & down the stairs.
What about the neighbours ???
:p

I lived next door to a house with no carpet - stairs in both houses were adjoined. . . sounded like herds of wild elephants every time somebody clomped up the stairs, then down the stairs, then up the stairs ... and down .....

Every ferkin time. Sometimes you just wanted to scream abuse through the walls....

Sagz_2

daffodil wrote: »

I pulled up my stair carpet recently and varnished the wood and put carpet tiles on the flat parts - looks really good and stylish and its just as safe as a carpet. Couldnt get the exact size - had to cut to size.

I did the same about 7 years ago and they still look good - and cost me under a tenner! I had to pull out 100's of tacks and sand the treds, cut about 10 carpet tiles to size and glossed the risers and side parts.
I've painted the sides a couple of times since (not easy with 3 cats and 2 dogs helping) and they still look good.

jellie

If your stairs creak as much as mine and my attached neighbour's do, it won't make much difference whether you have carpet or not. Also depends on how heavy footed you are generally.

I'm planning on taking my stair carpet up and putting laminate down. I'm a non-clomper.