Anyone had their stairs stripped professionally?

[HamCob]

We have a lovely 1920s painted staircase with open spindles and a carpet runner.
We had it painted about 4 years ago and it's ready to be done again.

I've noticed that there's quite a few layers of paint that have built up over time. It gives an uneven appearance in places. Some of the paint has chipped away and I can see that underneath is a dark coloured wood or varnish.

I would love to strip back the treads and hand rail (would leave the spindles and risers) but from previous experience it's a messy and time consuming job - I really can't be bothered!

I'm thinking of getting someone in. Has anyone done this and if so can you give me a rough idea of cost? If it's too ££ then I might just have to suck it up and repaint!

I'd be curious to know the answer too. Ours hasn't been painted in the seven years we've lived here, and I'd love to see it stripped back to the wood.

Are you sure yours needs repainting after just four years, though? That doesn't seem very long! Is one part in particular a problem? Would a good clean help? Or is the issue that the paint has chipped or faded or something?

Repainting every few years will quickly obliterate details on the spindles etc. If everyone who'd owned the house had done this there'd be a couple of dozen coats on there by now!

Unfortunately when we moved in 4 years ago I just wanted it done as it looked awful. The painter we hired didn't do any prep, just slapped the paint on so it isn't really surprising it's chipped. I also hoover them a couple of times a week as the white paint shows dust & dirt. It's mainly the stair treads and hand rail that look bad as they get the most wear. I was planning to leave the spindles and risers.
Just thought it might save future hassle to get those parts stripped!

I did a section of bannister just over 2 meters long. Used nitromor, rubber gloves, a scraper & sandpaper worked fine & took under a day. I have removed paint from a couple of window ledges & it was easier than the banister.
Cover anything you might splash with the paint remover including the hall floor as it it is unforgiving.
stairs are straightforward only remove the paint on the edges, using the scraper after the paint remover has done it s thing is satisfying.
Dont bother with the wilko paint remover it was crap & has to be left on for ages (which I did & then started again with nitromor)

We had most of our house redecorated (for the first time) earlier this year. I asked the painter/decorator about stripping the stairs (spindles, handrail and steps themselves, two flights of them) as ours is a 1910s house with huge paint build up. He took one look and said that for the time cost, it would be cheaper to put in a new staircase in keeping with the date of the house.