Refinshing Staircase Inplace
#11
Hey folks,

Quick question...anyone refinish a wood staircase/handrail/spindles in place?

Just wondering if you've found a process that works well....or if it's just hours and hours of hand sanding...?

Thanks for any ideas!
Kevin
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#12
I just painted them in place.

If we were doing it again I'd dismantle it and sand on the lathe.

That way I could sand the drips off the bottom rail.
"Truth is a highway leading to freedom"  --Kris Kristofferson

Wild Turkey
We may see the writing on the wall, but all we do is criticize the handwriting.
(joined 10/1999)
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#13
I would use a chemical stripper and only sand any damage you find after the finish is off. A stripper containing methylene chloride, like KleanStrip Premium, will take off most anything, varnish very quickly, paint a little slower, but it will get it off. It also will get into tight places better than sandpaper. If your stairs are old and painted there's a good chance it's lead paint, and you definitely don't want to sand that.

John
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#14
I did mine in place. The original finish was shellac, so lots of alcohol, green, red and white scrubbies, and various scrapers. The dental molding at the base newell was a pain. I think I also used some paint stripper at the start just to shorten the total cycle. I used shellac to finish, 1# cut, with a final of 1.5# on the railing. Turned out nice... lots of work. Just be patient, do a couple steps at a time. Make sure you wear gloves, I swear I got punch-drunk not wearing gloves..... didn't feel good at all.
Train to be miserable...
that way when the real misery starts you won't notice.
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#15
Sorry...should have also added...it's approx 30 years old...stained/varnished. Everything is in good shape and solid as a rock (main reason I don't want to try dismantling) it's just a hideous stain/color
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#16
I knew a couple that did their own refinishing in place. They had a deal with each other. Each person had to do one spindle a week. If they did not get it done then they had to do the other person's spindle the next week. That got them motivated to get it done. Theirs was in a ~100+ year old house and had gobs and gobs of paint. It was about a 1+ hour process per spindle, thus the need for motivation to keep the job going.
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#17
ours was a 17 yr old oak stained in a crap brown color. I just went over it with a light sanding with a dark all-in-one stain & finish. Turned out much better and only took a couple hours.
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#18
stilinsm said:


ours was a 17 yr old oak stained in a crap brown color. I just went over it with a light sanding with a dark all-in-one stain & finish. Turned out much better and only took a couple hours.




I think we had the same builder
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#19
For a chemical stripper you will want something viscous enough to stick on vertical surfaces and stay put while it works.

I refinished a set of stairway spindles once. Royal PIA, but the end result paid off.
I used a lot of drum sanding paper that I cut into strips varying 1/2" to 1 1/2" wide.
It worked really well. It's tough and lasts a long time.
It also rolls well into tubes to get into the contours etc.
I was also able to straddle the paper around the spindle and worked it back and forth at varying angles to get the old finish off and maintain a somewhat random scratch pattern to make the finish sanding vertically easier to do.
I also used a card scraper and a regular glue scraper.
I used a lot of different things to scrape and sand.
Ray
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#20
If you are going darker, you don't have to strip everything to bare wood. You can tint some varnish and just get it to the point you can add a couple topcoats.
Blackhat

Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories. 


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