Staircase Sanding Dublin
In many people’s homes, their stairs are situated in the hallway, meaning it is one of the first things people will see when visiting your property. In addition to this, your stairs will normally have one of the highest levels of footfall within your home, meaning it is subject to a lot of wear and tear.
On a more positive note, staircases can provide a great deal of character to your home, (particularly period staircases) so they are well worth the time and trouble of some TLC and restoration, especially if they’ve been neglected in the past.
It’s fair to say that staircases are often covered in layers upon layers of paint as it’s the quickest way to spruce up and the entrance of your home. Prolonged and repeated repainting does become noticeable after a while and can impact the design details of the stairs.
Stairs Sanding
When people think about sanding and refinishing, they usually consider it mostly for their wooden floors. While a well-kept and attractive looking floor can make a great impression, every little detail matters. Even the stairs. In fact, some stairs see more traffic than many floors since the movement is constant. You simply cannot transition from one storey to another without using them. As a result, those stairs begin to wear down very quickly and eventually need some attention. If we want the best for our home, we simply cannot make exceptions. If we are to do something, let’s do it properly?
Some people consider this a DYI project which can be easily done with a simple palm sander. It isn’t so. Stairs can get very worn over the years and require professional help with the proper tools and experience behind it.
Usually, when we sand a floor, we always remove the furniture in the room, not only to make it easy on ourselves but also to protect it from dust, dirt and any form of collateral damage. The situation isn’t that different when it comes to stairs but since the furniture isn’t directly on top of the surface that is about to be sanded, it is ok to simply cover it with clothes during the process.
Before we attempt to sand, we always make sure that there isn’t protruding nails which can damage our equipment. Of course, if we find any, we make sure to remove or punch them in.
Staircases require more delicate touch and precision compared to your regular wooden floor. We use an edge sander with coarser grit depending on the condition of the stairs to make sure that there is no old finish left. Any areas the edger could not properly strip, are left for hand scraping and hand sanding, later on.
Next logical step is to vacuum all the dust and debris to prepare the wood for the gap filling. Gap filling will eliminate any empty spaces between the planks. After this, we sand again with a finer grit to smooth the surface even more and remove any excess filler. This finally allows our specialists to hand scrape any leftovers from the old finish, clean and sand again in order to start staining.
Even after the stain is applied, a true professional must make sure that the stairs are perfectly clean before proceeding with the finish. The whole process, depending on the drying times, should take around a day and a half.
Stair Railing and Banister Refinishing
Our standard restoration service includes stripping steps and risers only. However, we can provide special prices for handrails and bannisters. The reason for this is that bannisters can be tricky to work on, due to the many decorative elements on them which make the process longer and therefore costly.
The process isn’t very complicated but requires care and attention to detail. A small electric sander can take care of the bigger areas while all the small, decorative parts and grooves have to be sanded by hand. The general idea remains the same – we sand, clean, use a finer sanding grit and clean again until the old finish is completely gone and ready for the application of a stain. As far as finishes go, we recommend using oils and hard wax oils. They are not as durable as lacquers but provide a more natural look and are easy to maintain and possibly remove. Painted sideboards and bannisters are better left that way because paint and filler in chips and cracks are quite difficult to remove.
Stair Sanding Process
Wood stairs restoration is a much trickier task than a normal wood floor restoration project for a number of reasons. You are working with numerous small sections of wood, banisters and railings are rounded, often with intricate detailing and you are working in a more confined area at height.
The process involved in restoring wood stairs is similar to our wood floor sanding, namely:
Step 1: If your stairs are carpeted, we remove the carpet runner and pull out the staples.
Step 2: Fill all holes with a stain-able wood filler
Step 3: Sand the entire staircase, check for any new flaws that have been exposed and fill if necessary before sanding again.
Step 4: Wipe down staircase with damp rags and then vacuum, it’s important to remove all detritus from the area. Otherwise, you run the risk of painting or staining over this in the next step.
Step 5: Decide whether you want a natural wood finish, or paint, or a combination of natural wood and paint.
Step 6: Paint and/or apply the desired wood treatment (stain, varnish, wax or oil)
Of course, there is another option available to you, call in the professionals! We have the crews, the experience and the professional equipment to do the work for you quickly, cleanly and for less than you might think!
Get in Touch
If you have any questions on this topic or would like to discuss your own wood flooring, please don’t hesitate to call us today on 087-6268100 or email us at sales@rhwoodfloors.ie You can view our collection of 5-star reviews here and also watch some of our customer’s testimonial videos here. RH Wood Floors offer a free home visit to discuss your plans, measure up and provide a personalised quote just for you, all backed up by full certification from The National Wood Flooring Association. Thank you for considering RH Wood Floors.
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