How to refinish stairs that were carpeted

Refinishing stairs that were carpeted is one of those projects that sounds simple until you pull up the carpet and see what is actually underneath. In our case, the wood was knotty, water-stained, and covered in paint drips from our builder. If you haven’t done the removal yet, I have a full post on removing carpet from stairs that covers everything, including the molding gaps. In this post, I am sharing what I did when the wood was in rough shape, what our neighbors did when their wood was in great condition, and why I ended up using an outdoor deck stain inside the house. Yes, really.

Refinishing stairs that were carpeted when the wood is in bad shape

As I mentioned above already, the first part of ripping up the carpet, removing staples, removing the glue and other residue with a scraper, fixing the molding, patching the wood and priming the risers was all done in another blog post because it would have just been too long. Make sure you check out the first part of this project too.

This post simply addresses what to do with your stairs after removing carpet, if the wood is in bad shape or in good condition, so you can decide for yourself.

How I picked my stain color

I don’t know if you remembered that I had the problem of making the downstairs maple flooring somehow transition with the upstairs light gray bamboo flooring. And also hide the cheap and damaged wood on the stair treads. So I bought several sample cans of tinted stains to test out. (Check out my post about how to remove carpet from stairs)

When I walked the aisle at the home improvement stores and browsed online, I noticed the color limitations.  There was nothing that resembled the light gray floors upstairs in any way. I had pondered going with a black stain and bought one to try out…PolyShades satin classic black & polyurethane, which is a stain and protective coat all in one.

I also bought several other gray stain samples because I already knew that the black stain wouldn’t make me happy. Dirt, dust, and hair tend to show up more on dark finishes.

I bought from left to right: Behr Premium Waterproofing Stain & Sealer Semi Transparent (ST-125 Stonehedge), Varathane Wood Stain in Weathered Gray, Behr Premium Waterproofing Stain & Sealer Solid Color (SC-149 Light Lead and SC-365 Cape Cod Gray)

And yes, outdoor wood/deck stain snuck into my cart because I just loved the color variety. That’s where the story gets interesting or should I say iffy! The options were so much better and closer to our gray floors upstairs. They were also either semi-transparent or solid. I wanted something that would hide the awful imperfections of the cheap wood and the damage the carpet staples had done to the treads.

As you see in the above photo, I applied the stain samples to pieces of wood so I could test them out. I liked Behr Premium Waterproofing Stain & Sealer Solid Color in  SC-365 Cape Cod Gray the best. And I was questioning if I could use the outdoor stain inside the house.

Did you see all the scuff marks and dirt above? my stairs were in bad shape again since my last post.

So I started to do some research on outdoor stain usage inside the house because of the fact that I liked the outdoor stain so much better.

Can you use outdoor deck stain on interior stairs?

Now let me get into this controversial topic of using outdoor stain inside your home a little more and the reasoning why I chose to go this route even. I did my research and based my decision on that. I’m not a professional and will not be held accountable for anyone else’s decisions.

Main Concern: Toxicity of outdoor stain

Well, let me say that both indoor and outdoor wood stains have some level of toxicity due to fumes and chemicals added to protect the wood. Exterior deck stains often incorporate additional chemicals, such as fungicides, preservatives, and pesticides.

But indoor stains are also still toxic and also contain some amount of volatile organic compounds or VOCs. You should definitely always read the manufacturer’s labels.
Even if you use indoor stain, you should never inhale the fumes of the stain and should always use a protective respirator.

Benefits of outdoor stains

A larger variety of colors and various levels of transparency of the stain to even being completely solid.
Outdoor stains are also made to be more durable since they have to withstand the elements to protect the wood.

Staining stairs process

The most important part of refinishing any type of stairs is, as always, cleaning everything thoroughly before applying any product. To me, the most important little tool is the tack cloth because even after vacuuming and cleaning the stairs, I still got a huge amount of lint on the cloth. Had I not used the tack cloth on the bare wood, all that lint, debris, and dirt would have ended up in my stain and paint.

Sorry for the blurry photo 😉

For painting the white risers, I love using the small rollers that I mentioned in my supplies list. They work really well with my favorite white paint. Remember, I had already primed the stairs right after ripping out the carpet. So I didn’t need to do that anymore.

I use the rollers on the risers and a little bit on the sides. And I cut in and painted the rest with my good brush.

Just look at the bad shape the stairs were in:

I mentioned painter’s tape for people who like to tape before painting. I personally just cut in freehand with a good paintbrush now, when I paint certain projects. This one was one of those projects.

And before cutting in and painting in each stair tread, I made sure to use the tack cloth again. I painted (yes, this stain goes on just like paint) two layers on the right side first. That way, we could walk up the left side while the other side dried. This isn’t the best way because you could end up with a line where the sides meet. The best way would be to paint/stain every other tread, but at that time, we had small children who were incapable of walking big leaps like that. So this way was the second-best option.

When I was finished with the stain, it was time to apply the protective coat. I used Minwax Polyurethane for Floors Clear Satin Oil-Based Polyurethane and applied it with a synthetic pad applicator and a high-quality brush made for polyurethane. Looking back, I should have done more than two coats, like my neighbors did, which I mention below.

Our refinished stairs

And here is the view we have right now with the gray outdoor deck stain and the gray bamboo hardwood flooring.

Around that corner, it goes up another flight of stairs. So it would have been natural wood downstairs, gray wood on landing, natural wood again on another set of treads, and gray wood again upstairs… which is why I wanted to make the transitions flow better somehow.

Before and after to show you how it ties in with the gray floor which is Pearl City Bamboo by Lumbar Liquidators by the way.

This is not where this story ends though. I would have loved for the stair treads to remain natural light wood like the downstairs flooring. It just didn’t look so good because of the quality of the wood and how damaged it was.

I did, however, figure out a way to incorporate some more natural light wood in this stair makeover. It will tie in with the gray floor when you look down from above. Also, if you look up from down below you will be able to see the light-colored wood. I’m just waiting for the materials to arrive and am hoping that the rest of the project will work out.

Stair refinishing UPDATE: I used stair riser decals to add some more interest to my stairs.

UPDATE: Since I gave these stairs a makeover, I have written a blog post about how to install carpet runner on stairs, and I love this updated look so much.

Frequently asked questions

Stairs are one of those things you look at every single day, so it is worth taking the time to get them right. I hope this helps you figure out which route makes the most sense for your staircase.

Tschüß,