If you’re planning to replace or renovate your stairs, but you’re not sure yet which is the best choice to make, you’re in the right place. Unless your stairs are in very poor condition, stairs are one of the interior elements that can be perfectly renovated, particularly through the technique of stair sanding.
Sand stairs instead of replacing them?
Renovating the coating of wooden stairs in an interior is something that may need to be done from time to time depending on the level of foot traffic. Over time and with use, the varnish or paint wears out and loses its beautiful decorative appearance. While it’s tempting to change everything, know that sanding your stairs can restore their initial beauty, making them look like new. To renovate the surface of stairs, it’s enough to properly remove the old coating to apply a new one. However, sanding and restoring hardwood stair treads, risers, and false stringers involve a number of manual operations that are best left to experienced professionals.
Preliminary operations before sanding stairs
Before having your hardwood stairs sanded, professionals must repair your wooden steps, determine the type and extent of the problem, and then begin the repair process. You should know that sanding your hardwood stairs is an operation that will create and circulate particles that will remain suspended in the indoor air. These particles and dust can cause certain health problems, and some people with allergies may particularly react significantly to wood dust. Des professionnels expérimentés auront alors une solution pour vous épargner la quasi-totalité de la poussière dans l’air intérieur de votre maison.
Sanding stairs: the steps
- Sanding a surface such as the steps, risers, handrail, and corners of a staircase is done using a sander and fairly coarse sandpaper to remove the varnish surface covering the hardwood. The use of finer paper only comes after, to smooth the surface that will be covered with potential marks from the previous sandpaper sanding. When the stair steps are very worn and require more than simple sanding, it’s also an opportunity to carry out other renovation operations.
- Once the major sanding work is done, the edges and corners that the sander cannot reach must be sanded by hand. This may seem tedious, but it’s only once the surface is smooth and free of marks that the stairs can be cleaned. Cleaning should be done using a damp cloth to properly remove the sanding dust.
- Depending on your wishes and the needs of your stairs, a stain can then be applied to give a new look to the wood of the stairs, or even to reproduce the nuances of a particular wood species.
- Finally, it’s possible to apply layers of varnish, oil, or any other protective product for the wood. For this, you need to use an appropriate brush and be able to let each coat dry completely. To do the job well, you also need very fine paper and water to sand between each coat of varnish. This helps make the surface smooth and solid so that the varnish adheres well to each layer. Varnishing requires several coats to obtain a good thickness that will protect the surface in the long term.