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Painting & Decorating

Help with painted stairs

Anonymous user 03/03/2024 - 3.33 PM

Hi. Decided to rip up the carpet on my stairs and re-stain the wood treads, but opting to paint the risers white to match the skirting boards. We stained the treads first, then masked off so we could paint the risers and refresh the skirting that travels up stairs at the same time. We completed the job, removed the masking tape and as the house is old and woodwork not in great shape, we found the white paint from skirting has seeped into newly varnished wood treads where they meet at each side edge. Basically the white primer/eggshell has seeped into the grain/grooves of the poor quality wood, making it impossible to remove. So my question is, can I touch up the poorly finished white painted edge with the same wood varnish to clean up the line, knowing that varnish is not paint so will not completely cover the white uneven join (but might at least lessen impact). Or is there an alternative option, perhaps painting over white with a denser walnut coloured solution first, then varnishing? Hope you can help shed some light. Thx

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5 Answers

Anonymous user

Sand out white on stair treads then re-stain

Answered16 October 2020

Anonymous user

Maybe try gently chiseling the white out and using a wood filler then stain a shade darker on the treads. This might be a case of trial and error. Try one tread first where it is less obvious

Answered16 October 2020

Stewart Decorators

Rating: 5 out of 5

Pontyclun

Hello there, basically there's no easy way to get around this problem so from point of view and to make it the lesser of to evils, I would take a very sharp blade (like a Stanley knife) and try yr best to scratch or sand away the white paint on the stained step and re-stain the step without using masking tap, I think doing it this way would be best because no matter how many times you try and stain over white paint it just doesn't cover. Hope this helps you

Answered16 October 2020

Anonymous user

Get an opache wood stain then varnish

Answered25 October 2020

Anonymous user

If you have a fine brush you ca n colour it out by touching out follow the grain with the coloured stain to block out the white its a form of graining would save cutting the stain back again starting from scratch French polishers do it to save time colouring out is when light streaks in wood occurs is there term for it

Answered26 October 2020