Sanding down stairs, is it worth it??

LAS_3

My partner and I have made a big mistake in staining 2 sets of staircase, basically we are not happy with the colour we have spent a lot of time and about £80, the colour doesnt match with our flooring and for some reason we didnt match the colour of the stairs to the colour of the skirting in one of the rooms that leads off the stairs I think at the time we thought it would be too dark? My question is do we sand it back which would take more time or do we pay someone to do it but we aint got a clue how much this could cost? or do we leave it?

ukwoody

Hi, I'm a chippie.

It is a right pain in the ar*e to have to sand down stairs - especially if you have Spindles (balaustrading) under the handrails. You will need a "detail" sander which is a pointed sander to get into the corners and edges.
It can be done but depending on the sort of stain, how many coats, type of timber used to construct the stairs, will dictate how long it will take. Cost wise for some one to do it? how long is a peice of string? depends on time and materials needed.

Would it be possible to revarnish it?

IMPORTANT LESSON HERE! (I speak as a chippie) ALWAYS test the stain on an area that cannot be seen first! It is amazing how the same stain/varnish/wax will look different on different woods and in different locations/light.

You may find, if you leave it for a few weeks, it might not look as bad as you first think.

Woody

LAS_3

It was a pain in the ar*se staining the stairs nevermind sanding it down again, we ran a couple of patch tests and at the time it looked ok, what we did notice though after staining the complete staircase, in the loft it is a completely diff colour to the stairs on first floor, so this must be possibly different woods and light?? And the worst thing is the colour is never the same on the tin! So you open a tin test it and the colour is not right, if only we had stuck with the the dye we used on the skirting!

ukwoody

Certainly light has a major effect on the colour. It may well also be that the stairs are of different construction and age which would cause a difference. One other point. Did you get all the varnish at the same time from the same place. They are batch coded and there can be considerable diffences in batches.

If the stairs are different ages you are unlikely to get them the same anyway.

woody

LAS_3

Oh right, no we didnt get the varnish at the same time, something I have learnt today!! The stairs were installed quite recently 1st floor done first then loft few months later. Just discussed with partner gonna risk another pot of Varnish, same colour as wood dye and see if that works.

Thanks so much for your advice

SiobhanD

We moved into new house new mahogny stairs 18 months ago and still have not put anything on stairs, have attempted a few times now and am starting again today. I think the colour of the mahogny is a bit light without varnish and want instant colour, do not want to wait for colour to develop in a year under the clear varnish. The colour has not changed much in 18 months but I am told that that is because we left it raw.
This is a big stairs, and I need to do it bit by bit as we have small children and we are not in a position to move out while this is going on. I have sanded 4 steps, cleaned it with white spirits, I intend to stain dye first (wallnut), and varnish the next day, is this an acceptable way of doing it. I want to get the steps done as a priorty as you can imagine we have ruined them and dont want to sand the whatever you call the rising bits and rail until all the steps are done first. Do I still need up to 3 coats of clear varnish over the dye as the can does not state, and if so I am to be fine sanding in between coats.

latecomer

You should have posted a new thread rather than posting in this old one.

Your plan sounds reasonable to me. The varnish should state the number of coats required, if not then see if there is any info on the manufacturer's website.

leveller2911

Are the stairs made of "pine" and the skirting boards "pine"? ,if they are it may be that the stairs are made of "white wood"(very pale in colour) which is a cheap pine usually grown in Northern Russia or Finland,the skirting boards may be a different "pine" nown as Scandanavian Redwood (generally yellow ish grain )which is slower grown and is more dense.They are totally different and as such I don't think you will ever match them.Redwood is more hardwearing ,whitewood is softer.Depending upon which looks better i:e skirting or stairs I would paint the worse looking, Staircases can look very classy if you paint the newel posts,strings and ballusters and oil the handrail if its a hardwood handrail,if not its quite easy to fit hardwood handrails, you could then put a stair-runner carpet on the stairs... Just a thought:D