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You are here: Home / Renovations / Staircase 4: Filling Holes, Sanding + Stripping

Staircase 4: Filling Holes, Sanding + Stripping

March 23, 2013 by SmartGirl 14 Comments

It’s Saturday and it’s been a week since I tore the carpet off the stairs.  I am happy to report that I have worked 6 of the last 7 days.  All 3 of my kiddos were home sick on Thursday. 🙁  Although the stairs aren’t done, they are ready to be stained.  But before I stain them I need to replace two spindles and put up some molding, but we’ve come a long way already.  So far I’ve shown you how I tore the carpet off the stairs and then I shared the tedious job of removing staples and my solution for a bizarre ledge. Day 5 (yesterday) was a long day!  I hand sanded the edge of the stairs, the part that overhangs and you see as soon as you walk in the door.  This is what they looked like after the carpet came off.

strip paint stairs staple holes fill
Spackling the holes on the side was an instant improvement, but I still had to sand all that paint off the stair treads and fill in the holes in the wood.
staple holes strip paint sand

And boy were there a lot of holes!  And a lot of sanding to do.  I used 80-120 grit sandpaper in a variety of forms.  I really like the foam sanding blocks, but sometimes I just used strips of sandpaper.

I was barely starting my day, but already getting burnt out.  But the results were making me so happy, it was easy to keep going.  Just seeing the wood on the overhang makes the stairs look so much better!!  Yay!!

how to take stairs

The white paint was thicker than I thought, so it was time to call in the reinforcements!  I used Citristrip stripping gel, but let me point out that this is NOT an all natural product.  It is chemical based, but “safer” and smells better.

It was a process.  But luckily, not a very long one.  First I poured the orange goop into a disposable cup.  I doubled the cups up, which was a good thing, because eventually the stuff ate through both cups.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  I painted it onto the stair treads with a paint brush.  I did this on both sides, because, ya know we needed a way to walk up the stairs.

Staircase renovation take carpet off toothbrush

The directions state that you can begin stripping in 30 minutes or wait up to 24 hours.  Hmmm.  I am impatient, so I started stripping after an hour.  I wasn’t have the best luck, then I figured out that scrubbing the Citristip with a toothbrush, then wiping it off worked really well.  This was definitely the best method to use around the spindles.

 

I decided to let the rest soak in overnight.  I spent my morning (today is day 6!) scraping the steps.  This is what they looked like after I scraped.  The top step still has the orange (pinkish when it dries) Citristrip.  The two below are ones I’ve scraped.

staircase renovation

Here’s a look at the same step, first with the dried on Citristrip.  Funny how people walked through it anyway, even though I left the middle clear.  Hee hee.

staircase renovation take carpet off
 Almost finished scraping…
staircase renovation taking carpet off
This is after rubbing the remaining residue off with a damp rag.  Seriously, that’s the only difference between the two pics, but WOW!  Right?

This is a really good shot because it shows all three stages at once.  The bottom 3 steps still have the dried on Citristrip, the middle 3 have been scraped and swept, the top 3 have been scrubbed with a damp cloth.

how to take carpet off stairs and redo

Now I was ready to sand.  Well almost ready.  I vacuumed the stairs first so I could get a good look at what I was sanding.  I hate prep work, but it was essential here.  I tape off all the openings downstairs and closed all the bedroom doors upstairs.

prep work carpet off stairs how to
Taking carpet off stairs prep work
Can you handle this sexy shot of me??
DIY how to do it yourself stair renovation
I thought the stairs looked great when I was finished sanding, but it didn’t last very long
staircase renovation how to remodel take
…because filling the all the holes in is very messy.  I used Minwax Stainable Wood Filler on the treads and despite the poor reviews, I really like the stuff.  It is gritty, like there’s sand in it, but I was able to rub it into the holes and cracks no problem.  Then I’d brush away the excess all with my fingertip.  Of course I had to sand it after it dried, but that was no problem either.  The big test will be to see how well it STAINS!
staircase renovation review

See, it does make a mess.  I had to vacuum again, fill more holes, vacuum again, then sand again.  No joke.staircase renovation how to review

 I used spackle on the risers because those are getting painted white.
Staircase renovation how to renovate
And as you can see from the picture it was now dark outside, lights on inside.  And boy was that a long day!  So as soon as I’m finished typing I’m going to bed!!

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Check out more on the stairway makeover:

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Filed Under: Renovations, Stairway + Hall Renovation Tagged With: entryway, stain, stairs

« Staircase 2: Bizarre Platform Fix (Part 1)
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Julie @ Being Home says

    April 8, 2013 at 4:39 am

    Whew! I am exhausted reading your post! lol 😉 Amazing and very hard work! Your stairs are going to look stunning when you are done. 😀

    Incredible work!

    Reply
  2. Dana says

    October 28, 2013 at 12:29 pm

    Hi. I’m new to your blog and not quite sure how all this works, but you have inspired me to redo my stairs! Was wondering if you showed your staining and painting steps?

    Reply
    • Smart Girl says

      November 1, 2013 at 1:40 am

      Hi Dana. You should totally go for it and redo your stairs! If they’re half as ugly as my carpeted stairs were, then it will be a big improvement. I hadn’t realized, but I never posted pics of the staining processor the finished product. Definitely a downfall to doing so many projects at the same time, which is totally my thing. For now, check out the finished product in this post (http://smartgirlsdiy.blogspot.com/2013/10/halloween-to-do-list-done.html) and I will write about the staining process very soon. I have a heck of a lot of pics!

      Reply
  3. Earl Judds says

    October 31, 2013 at 2:47 pm

    Wow! Great job! I wish I could do my own staircase remodeling. I might have to show this to my son and have him help me. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Smart Girl says

      November 1, 2013 at 1:18 am

      Thanks Earl! I’m sure you and your son could handle this. The hardest thing for me was dealing with that platform area, and you probably won’t have that challenge. The rest is a little tedious, but not too difficult. Good luck!

      Reply
  4. Jill says

    June 26, 2014 at 9:10 pm

    May i ask what sander you were using? the name, the brand and model? I’m new in renovation and am learning.

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      June 26, 2014 at 11:36 pm

      This is the newer version of the sander I was using… Black & Decker QS900 1/4-Sheet Sander. I like the square palm sanders better than the circular ones because I can use any sandpaper I want. You can buy large sheets and cut them in quarters yourself. It’s cheaper and easier to change the sand paper. This model is about $30 on Amazon… http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001K31KOQ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001K31KOQ&linkCode=as2&tag=smgidi-20&linkId=XEP4GO33CWOKTOHA

      Reply
  5. Kim says

    July 18, 2014 at 11:49 am

    Did you find that the stain you used worked equally well on the wooden treads AND the filler you used to fill all of the holes? If it did, can you tell my what brand of stain you used, if you remember? I’ve been on other blogs and people have found that the supposedly stainable filler they used did not absorb the stain the same as the wood, and they ended up having to paint both the riser and the tread of their stairs. My stairs are OLD and coverered in paint and what looks like adhesive of some sort. For now my 11-year-old and I are going to try to get the GROSS baby blue carpet up while DH is at work. Why we are doing this on a gorgeous beach day is beyond me. 😉

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      July 19, 2014 at 8:21 pm

      It did not stain exactly the same, but it was pretty darn close. If I had to do it again, I would have only filled the worst holes and left the rest the way they were. I used Rust-Oleum Ultimate Wood Stain in American Walnut. They really look great now!!

      Reply
  6. Chris says

    July 15, 2015 at 7:35 pm

    Hi Liz. Great job. I just started doing this exact project. I am in the process of getting ALL the staples out. So there is my question. Did you literally get every single staple out??

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      July 20, 2015 at 12:55 am

      Yes. I took out EVERY SINGLE STAPLE. Drink some wine — it will help. So will large pliers. Good luck!

      Reply
  7. Diane says

    September 7, 2015 at 3:16 pm

    Hi Liz, your stairs look great! I have the exact same issue in my house and am planning to stain the treads/paint the risers. One question, did you sand first, then Citristrip, then stand again? Or did you use the Citristrip only first and then sand?

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      September 7, 2015 at 9:21 pm

      Hi Diane! I used Citristrip, then sanded. No need to sand first. Good luck and let me know how it goes!

      Reply
  8. Erin says

    August 22, 2016 at 11:19 am

    Hi! I realize this post is 3 years old but hopefully you will see this! I am currently redoing my stairs and they look almost exactly like yours. The outside edges and corners of my stair treads are full of staple holes and chipped wood JUST LIKE IN YOUR PICTURE! Can you show me a close-up of what the finished product looks like? My husband thinks ours will still look crappy if we fill in the holes on the outside corners of the treads so I’d love to see what yours looks like all finished!

    Reply

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