The finish on our stairs has been slowly peeling over the years and I thought I would give it a shot to refinish. Although I consider myself somewhat "handy" I thought I would come here for some insight into best approach and what I am up against.

It seems like they try to put varnish or something similar on finished wood, so it never really soaked in. It flakes off pretty easily, and my kids sweaty/sticky feet will peel pieces of it off as they walk up. Pictures #1 and #2 below are the worst step currently.

The reason I am looking to get this done sooner than later is because my Dad came in this weekend and wanted to show me how "easy" this would be to redo, so took my plastic razor and the scraped flaking finish off a step, then got distracted and moved onto other things, so now I have step #3.

I am hoping it is as easy as he made it sound: scrape/sand off the current finish, clean it up, and then re-seal/finish, but didn't know if it was a situation where I need a finish remover type treatment first.

TIA.
#1&2 - peeling step

#3 - Dad's handy work

This post was edited on 10/30/23 at 7:45 am

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Posted by baldona

Florida

Member since Feb 2016

20634 posts

Posted on 10/30/23 at 8:13 am to LSU Delirium

I’m not a pro but I’ve refinished some stuff. Easiest thing is get pro strength stripper in the paint section of the hardware store, you want the strongest they have no matter the directions. The only difference is how liquid it is the stronger it is the more gel like and the weaker is more liquid. Paint that stuff on thick. That should pull most off. You may need to do it twice.

Then sand it down, orbital sander or similar is the best thing.

Then restain and refinish.

If it’s just the varnish coming off you can probably just lightly sand it down with like 200 grit and just re varnish it.

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Posted by ItzMe1972

Member since Dec 2013

9897 posts

Posted on 10/30/23 at 11:34 am to LSU Delirium

Sand, stain, seal.

Oribital sander will take care of most of it.
Then it's either sandpaper, sanding block, or small electric sander for the edges.

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Posted by Yewkindewit

Near Birmingham, Alabama

Member since Apr 2012

20173 posts

Posted on 10/31/23 at 12:27 pm to LSU Delirium

Your post reminds me that I need to remove the carpet on my stairs heading down into my basement. I will probably have to sand and paint what’s underneath.

The carpet was covered with clear plastic and I had cleaned the carpet edges a lot over 30 years. I may post a few pics after carpet is removed and progress is made. Or, I can procrastinate as usual.