Painting over varnished stained wooden staircase

malexicon

Hi there - am sure this has been asked many times before so apologies for this - our house has a woodstained (quite dark) varnished staircase. I would like to paint it white to freshen up the area. I am aware that there are some Zinsser paints I can buy that will help but different people seem to use different ones. 

What works best for such a job? Would I need a light sand first? If I use one product - say a 123 primer to cover the wood - what do I put on top of that - another zinsser product that is Satin in affect or regular Satinwood paint?

Also if anyone has a good way on ensuring that I dont paint the carpet running up the stairs that would be great too..

Many thanks in advance...

theoretica

Cover the carpet and tape the edges. 

Is the varnish in 100% good condition or is it cracked, flaking, bits missing? 

malexicon

Hi there - wouldnt say its 100% but is pretty good to be honest, no big chips out etc

tacpot12

I did a job recently where we already had Zinsser BIN for another job in the house, so I used that on a varnished bannister rail. It covered well and gave a nice finish after a light rub down with a fine sandpaper. I first rubbed down the varnish lightly to give a good key, and then rubbed down the BIN just to knock off some spots of dust and then painted it with a regular gloss. The BIN will take a coat of any normal paint for wood.

Just be aware that BIN required methelated spirits to clean up your brushes.

malexicon

That's great thanks. So couple of bin coats and then on with regular paint. Of course, still a big job doing all those spindles but could be worse!

Many thanks again