Advice on stair steps paint removal & finish

[Sabee]

Good morning!

I have started sorting out our stairs. Have removed the carpet, but I am unsure on how to approach the steps.

There is paint on them; highly likely, having lead paint there somewhere, so will be using paint remover to address this.

However, I am unsure whether I should sand or not.

We have very successfully sanded our original pine floors in our front room, and applied OSMO oil (white tint) and the boards have stayed nice and pale.

I wanted to do the same to the stairs.

However, I’m looking at the wood (most probably pine) and the grain is nice and raised (photos attached).

I’m thinking that considering they are stairs, having an ever so slightly raised surface might help with tread.

However, if I don’t sand, I cannot use the white tint OSMO - any oil application would only make it yellower; alternatively, i may have to consider a tinted oil.

Is it better to leave the surface as it is? Or is it perfectly ok to sand and then use an appropriate OSMO oil for the job.

I will try to look at photos online to see the effects of leaving it as it is; I’m not necessarily looking for matchy matchy, I’m quite happy having different types of wood in the house.

I just wanted to hear from anyone who has experienced this before.

Many thanks 💐

Hopeful bump for evening crowd! 👋

Ours are like this. We are decorating hall at the moment and getting them covered in carpet. I couldn’t be bothered with paint removal and find them very slippery as it is (child slipped down a few months back, walking around in socks). they are also rather noisy and we are all light sleepers.
In your shoes I’d probably consider a finish that wasn’t an oil/wax because of potential to be slippery? We have a Liberon matt floor varnish on some floorboards that has come up nicely. Not yellowed at all.

To be fair, varnish might be more slippery. Runners seem popular at the moment - you could paint over the existing paint and put a runner in the middle?

Thank you tiddletaddletat

I had thought eventually we may consider a runner but I really love a natural patina wood look, and want to try that initially.

There was a product I was looking at : www.wood-finishes-direct.com/product/osmo-polyx-oil-anti-slip-3089-r11?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIufPa8MWM9gIVD-ztCh0BFglrEAQYASABEgJ2c_D_BwE which apparently dries with a grippy surface which would solve everything! but similarly, wanted to get a pale look, so was looking into it.

I wasn’t sure about sanding though as I would lose the raised grain.

That polyx oil looks great - I’ve heard good things abo it the standard one but a grip surface sounds ideal. I really like the wood on our stairs too and would love to keep it visible but it just isn’t practical for us. I’m also quite worried about removing the lead paint - have only got wise to this in the past few months and think I’ve sanded quite a bit of 1930s eggshell off skirtings over the past few years without so much as a dust mask. Probably need to be much more cautious here from now on!!

Oh dear! If you’ve done a lot maybe keep an eye on your health 💐 We had lead paint in our front room, so I am using paint stripper - but it’s absolutely horrendously long and laborious - everything is a huge sticky mess 😑

I've been stripping out stairs- paint may b from the 60s but not sure if it would be leaded or not. Bit late now, though,

The one thing that got the most off, most quickly, was using a heat gun and a 'pull' scraper. I was able to borrow one with curved and flat edges. It was weirdly therapeutic. Smoke alarm went off constantly.

Woke up my whole household at 5am today creeping down the stairs. Sadly it’ll have to be carpet for us but good luck with your paint stripping! Ours are 1930s and the wood has a beautiful patina to it.

in one of the many lock downs i pulled up my stair carpet, sanded for ever but the wood was in bad shape from many nail holes etc

i couldnt find a filler that i could stain and was happy with so in the end painted the steps with V33 paint for stairs - you can find it in B&Q

it was good to paint with - you have to use it with in 10 days, but it looks as good now as the first day it was painted, even with a dog up and down it

i have to say its so much easier to keep clean, just a quick brush!