Finishing bare wood stairs

tea lady · 11-05-2011, 04:55 PM

Hmmmm guess no UK people here to give me feedback.

**BigJim** · 11-05-2011, 10:48 PM

I'm not in the UK but the treads look like pine. Have you tried to do a search for the product you are looking for in your area?

tea lady · 11-05-2011, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jiju1943

I'm not in the UK but the treads look like pine. Have you tried to do a search for the product you are looking for in your area?

Thanks for taking both the time and trouble to reply to my question.
Yes, I have tried to find duraseal wood stain in the UK, but to no avail.

Thanks also for your feedback on possibly pine treads.
I guess I'll have to treat them before staining if I don't want a blotchy appearance.

**BigJim** · 11-06-2011, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tea lady

Thanks for taking both the time and trouble to reply to my question.
Yes, I have tried to find duraseal wood stain in the UK, but to no avail.

Thanks also for your feedback on possibly pine treads.
I guess I'll have to treat them before staining if I don't want a blotchy appearance.

I did a search also and couldn't find that brand. Hopefully you will find a product that will work for you, sorry I wasn't much help.

marins · 11-06-2011, 12:01 PM

Just put a new stair treads an risers over existing one – looks like your stairs in the condition when you will spend a lot of time to send it to the condition you can apply finish. One more thing – it really looks like pine what is not good for stairs at all. It is very soft and easy to scratch wood. Doesn’t matter UK or US or Australia pipe is a pine oak is oak, and I didn’t find that somewhere invent something what can make a pine as hard as oak. Other thing it’s appearance – if you want so – so quality try to refinish otherwise put a new ones. I believe they have good flooring retailers where you can find any finishing products. I had similar stairs in 50 years old house here in US and I bought unfinished steps and risers – installer did a nice work with installation and staining it in a darker color – beautiful. If you didn’t do it before though – nearly impossible do it yourself – It might cost not as cheap, but I don’t know – I paid like $80 per each step. Have no idea what they charge in UK.

tea lady · 11-06-2011, 12:07 PM

That's ok. You were kind enough to try.
I'm nervous about staining these treads and want them to look fabulous in the entry hall.
After all of this hard work, I certainly don't want to ruin the project by choosing a wrong type of stain.

Was hoping somebody in the UK would be able to tell me which product is the best and which product they have used personally and liked. Also, now that you have said pine, I need to find a product to apply first so the stain doesn't go blotchy.

secutanudu · 11-06-2011, 12:09 PM

I'm no expert, but I wouldn't bother getting hung up on manufacturer. I think if you get your supplies from a wood flooring supplier as opposed to a big consumer store, you are better off.

Keep in mind that commercial-grade products are also more toxic while they are drying, so be sure to get air and wear a respirator if necessary, though the stairs look pretty open.

My guess would be the manufacturer of the finish (poly) is probably more important than the stain. That's what really takes a beating.

secutanudu · 11-06-2011, 12:14 PM

For what it's worth, i used normal Minwax wood conditioner. Make sure you wait approximately the same amount of time after conditioning to stain for each step.

Meaning...dont condition 10 steps, then stain. The conditioner will not work the same if it is let to set for varied amounts of time. I just kept my process to 3-4 steps at a time. Conditioned 3 steps, waited 20 minutes, stained, waited a few minutes, stained again, waited a few minutes, moved onto the next set of 3.

Go buy a piece of pine if you are worried and do a few test runs with different # of coats of stain, different amounts of time to let them sink into the wood, etc. Once you find the combination of # of coats and drying time you like, repeat that on your stairs. I found that 2 coats of stain with about 5-10 minutes of dry time each coat worked for my taste.

tea lady · 11-06-2011, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marins

Just put a new stair treads an risers over existing one – looks like your stairs in the condition when you will spend a lot of time to send it to the condition you can apply finish. One more thing – it really looks like pine what is not good for stairs at all. It is very soft and easy to scratch wood. Doesn’t matter UK or US or Australia pipe is a pine oak is oak, and I didn’t find that somewhere invent something what can make a pine as hard as oak. Other thing it’s appearance – if you want so – so quality try to refinish otherwise put a new ones. I believe they have good flooring retailers where you can find any finishing products. I had similar stairs in 50 years old house here in US and I bought unfinished steps and risers – installer did a nice work with installation and staining it in a darker color – beautiful. If you didn’t do it before though – nearly impossible do it yourself – It might cost not as cheap, but I don’t know – I paid like $80 per each step. Have no idea what they charge in UK.

Thanks for your feedback. However, after doing up the entire house there is no money left over for buying new treads or paying a professional to come and install them. This is a project we have to do ourselves and we have worked hard over the past 3 years to keep as many of the original features of the old house as we could.

After painting the risers, the treads have been cleaned and sanded again ready for the staining. I'm just uncertain of what products to use to give the best result.

tea lady · 11-06-2011, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by secutanudu

For what it's worth, i used normal Minwax wood conditioner. Make sure you wait approximately the same amount of time after conditioning to stain for each step.

Meaning...dont condition 10 steps, then stain. The conditioner will not work the same if it is let to set for varied amounts of time. I just kept my process to 3-4 steps at a time. Conditioned 3 steps, waited 20 minutes, stained, waited a few minutes, stained again, waited a few minutes, moved onto the next set of 3.

Go buy a piece of pine if you are worried and do a few test runs with different # of coats of stain, different amounts of time to let them sink into the wood, etc. Once you find the combination of # of coats and drying time you like, repeat that on your stairs. I found that 2 coats of stain with about 5-10 minutes of dry time each coat worked for my taste.

Your process is very helpful. thank you.
Do you live in the UK? I have also had difficulty finding minwax products over here.

When doing my homework and pre-reading before starting this project, most of the DIY help I found was from Americans and they talked about Duraseal and minwax products. However, finding those brands here have been most difficult.

secutanudu · 11-06-2011, 12:38 PM

No, I'm in the states. Is there a wood flooring supplier near you? I'd just go talk to them...

**BigJim** · 11-06-2011, 03:29 PM

A lot of folks don't like pine for treads but I have restored many old antique homes of the early 1800s and the old growth pine is beautiful and will hold up much better than the new growth of today. I always had the stairs and other parts of the old homes finished so I really can't give you a lot of advise there. I would talk to a paint store with a good reputation and see what they recommend. I don't know if your treads can be bleached or if the dark spots can be sanded out.

There is a fellow on the forum who has lived in England and now lives in British Columbia and knows his stuff on finishes and wood working, check out the link in my signature and PM him, coco is a really nice guy.

tea lady · 11-06-2011, 03:38 PM

thanks I will do that. I too love this old house and the old wood in it.
Also, thanks for the encouragement.

tea lady · 11-07-2011, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jiju1943

There is a fellow on the forum who has lived in England and now lives in British Columbia and knows his stuff on finishes and wood working, check out the link in my signature and PM him, coco is a really nice guy.

Well several hours later, I can't take my eyes away from reading about his island home.
He is amazing.