Best stain and finish for stairs

[Coles]

I spoke to someone at Mylands today and they suggested I use their Nitro or earth stains as they are easier to work with for someone like myself who has not done it before.

Is that the case? I did feel the water stain wasn't the easiest to apply when I tested it on a riser.

 

[fernicarry]

I'll admit applying the water based stain was a bit squeaky bum at first since a lot is at stake. The thought of having to redo all the prep if you don't like how it turns out is too much to bear.

The key is consistency. Along individual boards and across the whole area. It does go touch dry quite quickly, especially if its warm, so you need to avoid overlapping bits you have just done as far as possible. I found myself doing long brush strokes along the boards and going really quickly to keep some semblance of a wet edge (this was in the recent very warm spell). Where there were knots and other defects I wiggled a well loaded brush into them to get them well saturated before spreading the remainder out evenly. Keep a clean, damp sponge on hand to remove any excess. As you do each coat try to ensure that your brush strokes aren't in the same place each time. Of course be sure to give the bottle a good shake before decanting a batch so that the pigments are well distributed.

One thing I did find quite difficult to judge was how many coats to do. When its still wet it looks amazing, nice deep, shiny colour. An hour later and its dried out and it looks dull and insipid. Its the shellac that brings it to life, but once you put the shellac on then its sealed and you can't add any more stain so changing over was a bit of an educated guess. 3 coats on old original boards and 4 or 5 on the lighter new ones was right for the room I just did.

The shellac is much more forgiving but you also have to work fairly quickly before it goes sticky. I did two coats with a light sand with some 180 grit and a thorough vacuum in between. It also needs a very thorough shake to distribute the little bits.

I suppose my efforts wouldn't stand up to terribly close scrutiny by someone who does this for a living but like most things I do around here its a hell of a lot better than it was before so it'll see me out.

For your stairs I think I would treat the stringers like one long board and try to do them in one continuous hit brushing inwards onto each riser/tread as you go. Do one side at a time and alternate coats upwards and downwards. Try not to let excess stain build up in the corners.

Can't really comment on how my experience compares with the other stuff Mylands are suggesting. Both sound like they are solvent based so might flow a bit better or stay wet a bit longer so its less of a challenge to get consistent colour application. They'll probably be smelly though.... Honestly the water based stuff isn't that bad -- he says with 20-20 hindsight...

 

[Coles]

I'll admit applying the water based stain was a bit squeaky bum at first since a lot is at stake. The thought of having to redo all the prep if you don't like how it turns out is too much to bear.

The key is consistency. Along individual boards and across the whole area. It does go touch dry quite quickly, especially if its warm, so you need to avoid overlapping bits you have just done as far as possible. I found myself doing long brush strokes along the boards and going really quickly to keep some semblance of a wet edge (this was in the recent very warm spell). Where there were knots and other defects I wiggled a well loaded brush into them to get them well saturated before spreading the remainder out evenly. Keep a clean, damp sponge on hand to remove any excess. As you do each coat try to ensure that your brush strokes aren't in the same place each time. Of course be sure to give the bottle a good shake before decanting a batch so that the pigments are well distributed.

One thing I did find quite difficult to judge was how many coats to do. When its still wet it looks amazing, nice deep, shiny colour. An hour later and its dried out and it looks dull and insipid. Its the shellac that brings it to life, but once you put the shellac on then its sealed and you can't add any more stain so changing over was a bit of an educated guess. 3 coats on old original boards and 4 or 5 on the lighter new ones was right for the room I just did.

The shellac is much more forgiving but you also have to work fairly quickly before it goes sticky. I did two coats with a light sand with some 180 grit and a thorough vacuum in between. It also needs a very thorough shake to distribute the little bits.

I suppose my efforts wouldn't stand up to terribly close scrutiny by someone who does this for a living but like most things I do around here its a hell of a lot better than it was before so it'll see me out.

For your stairs I think I would treat the stringers like one long board and try to do them in one continuous hit brushing inwards onto each riser/tread as you go. Do one side at a time and alternate coats upwards and downwards. Try not to let excess stain build up in the corners.

Can't really comment on how my experience compares with the other stuff Mylands are suggesting. Both sound like they are solvent based so might flow a bit better or stay wet a bit longer so its less of a challenge to get consistent colour application. They'll probably be smelly though.... Honestly the water based stuff isn't that bad -- he says with 20-20 hindsight...

Thank you. Yes the stains they suggested are solvent based. They said its easier to work with as they don't dry as quickly.

I think my main worry is not judging the amount I put on to get a consistent colour.

When I tested the water stain on a floorboard I achieved a lovely colour but it was hard to judge prior to the shellac. But when I did the riser it looked much lighter and patchy as it dried so quickly. But I did do it with a cloth and not a brush which probably didn't help.

I'm incredibly nervous about it.

I did read somewhere that perhaps start with a lighter stain and then go darker. As you can't do the reverse.

I chose Teak which is similar to a dark oak. So perhaps I need to rethink that.

Maybe I should do a single tread/riser at a time with the stain and shellac rather than doing the whole stairs with the stain first.

 

[Stevers]

I chose Teak which is similar to a dark oak. So perhaps I need to rethink that.

My spirit based 'Teak' stain is similar to Medium Oak. 'Walnut' is closer to Dark Oak.

 

[fernicarry]

But I did do it with a cloth and not a brush which probably didn't help

I did my hallway by cloth and sponge and the colour build up was good and consistent. That was Mylands natural mahogany (which I've since decided I don't like all that much because its too red/orange, but its done and it'll stay done).

The room I just did I started doing the same way but the colour barely changed at all after the first couple of coats had dried. This had me panicing a bit because I needed the lighter boards to converge on the colour of the darker boards and it didn't look like that was going to happen. I switched to applying by brush and got a much more noticeable colour change on subsequent coats and was also using the stain at about twice the rate. An extra brushed coat brought the replacement boards close enough to the original ones. That was with antique pine which seems to be a much less dense colour.

It does all seem to be a bit more of a dark art than applying paint. With paint you know what you will get and once you have enough coats on then you reach that tone and it doesn't go any further. Finishing a floor does seem to be one of those things where experience helps. Starting with a lighter tone to get a feel for how it behaves might be worthwhile.

If you are nervous then mask off one tread/riser and give it the full treatment including shellac and polish. If you are happy then do the rest in one hit. If not then at least the job of prepping again isn't too big. I'll see if I can dig out some pictures of my second floor at its various stages of completion.

 

[Coles]

I did my hallway by cloth and sponge and the colour build up was good and consistent. That was Mylands natural mahogany (which I've since decided I don't like all that much because its too red/orange, but its done and it'll stay done).

The room I just did I started doing the same way but the colour barely changed at all after the first couple of coats had dried. This had me panicing a bit because I needed the lighter boards to converge on the colour of the darker boards and it didn't look like that was going to happen. I switched to applying by brush and got a much more noticeable colour change on subsequent coats and was also using the stain at about twice the rate. An extra brushed coat brought the replacement boards close enough to the original ones. That was with antique pine which seems to be a much less dense colour.

It does all seem to be a bit more of a dark art than applying paint. With paint you know what you will get and once you have enough coats on then you reach that tone and it doesn't go any further. Finishing a floor does seem to be one of those things where experience helps. Starting with a lighter tone to get a feel for how it behaves might be worthwhile.

If you are nervous then mask off one tread/riser and give it the full treatment including shellac and polish. If you are happy then do the rest in one hit. If not then at least the job of prepping again isn't too big. I'll see if I can dig out some pictures of my second floor at its various stages of completion.

Thank you. I did a riser today with a brush and it still looked like someone would ask when we planned to do the stairs. It was really dark in some places and lighter in others. The risers are quite hard to sand so perhaps that is the issue. Maybe I need to go over with sandpaper by hand.

It felt like some areas really sucked in the stain like a sponge and less so in others. So I'm wondering if the areas it's darker is down to those areas not having a consistent final sand.

The treads and landing parts where it's easier to sand down don't seem to be an issue.

A very helpful person at Morrells was a real advocate of the light fast stain, suggesting I would love it and it's easy to apply.

I have seen many posts on here advising not to stain. I can see why. But I'm not after perfection, just better than what I have some far.

If all else fails I will getting the Little Green paint out and remember this as an interesting experiment.

But I will continue to see how to turns out.

 

[a twig]

Stain along the grain if using a brush, and have a cloth in your other hand to wipe off any pooling almost straight away.

Don’t overload the brush, you can use the cloth to take any excess off the brush before you start so you aren’t getting a darker section every time you recharge the brush

 

[fernicarry]

I should have said Morrells above not Mylands.

I wonder if you have some contamination on your stairs? Maybe a spray on glue was used previously to hold a carpet down? Carpet fitters seem to love that stuff nowadays.

I had a couple of small spots that wouldn't take stain at all. I figured it was glue or something that had sealed the surface. I had gone over the whole surface with wire wool and meths so whatever it was wasn't for shifting.

I use a delta sanding pad on my multitool for awkward or confined areas like stairs. You can get into corners with it unlike an orbital and it has an extraction adapter.

 

[Coles]

Stain along the grain if using a brush, and have a cloth in your other hand to wipe off any pooling almost straight away.

Don’t overload the brush, you can use the cloth to take any excess off the brush before you start so you aren’t getting a darker section every time you recharge the brush

Thanks, I will try again but I did read that water stains can look blotchy.

I should have said Morrells above not Mylands.

I wonder if you have some contamination on your stairs? Maybe a spray on glue was used previously to hold a carpet down? Carpet fitters seem to love that stuff nowadays.

I had a couple of small spots that wouldn't take stain at all. I figured it was glue or something that had sealed the surface. I had gone over the whole surface with wire wool and meths so whatever it was wasn't for shifting.

I use a delta sanding pad on my multitool for awkward or confined areas like stairs. You can get into corners with it unlike an orbital and it has an extraction adapter.

The stairs were covered with three layers of ply and then the carpet on top but that was done in the 80s, so possibly before that. I still wonder if it's the Klingstrip which has penetrated deep into the wood.

 

[Coles]

Stain along the grain if using a brush, and have a cloth in your other hand to wipe off any pooling almost straight away.

Don’t overload the brush, you can use the cloth to take any excess off the brush before you start so you aren’t getting a darker section every time you recharge the brush

Thanks, I will try again but I did read that water stains can look blotchy.

I should have said Morrells above not Mylands.

I wonder if you have some contamination on your stairs? Maybe a spray on glue was used previously to hold a carpet down? Carpet fitters seem to love that stuff nowadays.

I had a couple of small spots that wouldn't take stain at all. I figured it was glue or something that had sealed the surface. I had gone over the whole surface with wire wool and meths so whatever it was wasn't for shifting.

I use a delta sanding pad on my multitool for awkward or confined areas like stairs. You can get into corners with it unlike an orbital and it has an extraction adapter.

The stairs were covered with three layers of ply and then the carpet on top but that was done in the 80s, so possibly before that. I still wonder if it's the Klingstrip which has penetrated

I should have said Morrells above not Mylands.

I wonder if you have some contamination on your stairs? Maybe a spray on glue was used previously to hold a carpet down? Carpet fitters seem to love that stuff nowadays.

I had a couple of small spots that wouldn't take stain at all. I figured it was glue or something that had sealed the surface. I had gone over the whole surface with wire wool and meths so whatever it was wasn't for shifting.

I use a delta sanding pad on my multitool for awkward or confined areas like stairs. You can get into corners with it unlike an orbital and it has an extraction adapter.

Just to add I did use my multitool for the corners. The hardest part was doing the mouldings at the top of each riser. It's been a chore.

I have some wire wool so I will give that a go.