How and with what to paint the stairs to the second floor: ideas and instructions

Wooden interfloor staircases are common in private housing construction. Wood is an easy-to-work material from which you can make a durable and beautiful structure, but it requires special care.

To protect wood from rotting, drying out, and premature wear, it is varnished or painted. Moreover, for the steps you should choose especially durable paints that can withstand daily loads.

Tips for choosing a coloring agent

Before you start acting, you need to mentally draw a picture for yourself that should turn out in the end. This will help you choose the right paint or varnish. When choosing a product, you should also take into account the advice of professionals:

If your staircase is made of high-quality wood with a beautiful natural pattern, then you should not paint it over. It is better to emphasize this advantage with a semi-gloss or matte varnish.
To avoid destroying the wood texture, do not use primers. Buy “light” types of paints that allow the material to “breathe.”
To paint staircase elements indoors, choose products that dry within a short period of time and do not leave a persistent and pungent odor.
Long-term protection of the staircase from external factors, as well as its beautiful appearance, can be ensured by using only abrasion-resistant varnishes and paints.
Use additional means of protection against fungi, mold, and insects for processing.
It is not recommended to cover steps with glossy enamel. Otherwise, you will not walk on them, but slide.

Even before purchase

Before deciding which option will be the best solution in your case, you need to analyze the following points:

Impact of precipitation. This is true for stairs that are located on the street. The amount of sunlight received. The composition of the coloring agent for a staircase, which is under direct ultraviolet exposure most of the day, differs from that which can be used if the product is located in the shade. This also affects the final cost. Gloss or matte. Typically, a coating that has a matte or semi-matte structure is selected for stairs. This makes more sense from a usability point of view. A glossy surface wears off faster and loses its appearance. Although there are types of varnishes that are able to maintain shine and at the same time are resistant to physical impact, for example, “yacht”. Hue

It is important to decide whether a slight adjustment will be made to the tone or a complete color substitution will take place. How much time is there for drying and will people be in the room during this time? Will you do the painting yourself or leave it to the professionals?

What can and should be used to cover a wooden staircase?

When you walk into a building materials store, you start to get lost. Therefore, it is important to know not only the types of these products, but also their features. The most common paint and varnish options for painting stairs are:

dye;
varnish;
impregnations and stains;
oil.

Paints

Today there are 3 types of them:

Alkyd. These enamels are non-toxic. Their advantages are that they dry in a short time and protect the wood from fungi and mold due to the presence of antiseptics in the composition. A staircase coated with alkyd paint is not susceptible to any mechanical damage. These dyes are quite affordable in cost and have a wide range of colors.
Acrylic. Their advantages are the absence of a strong odor, high drying speed, non-toxicity, long service life, and a wide range of shades. The acrylic coating does not fade in the sun and allows the material to “breathe”.
Oily. This type of paint for a wooden staircase in a house is not an ideal option. The advantages include low cost and low consumption of funds. The other side of the coin is low wear resistance, the presence of harmful substances in the composition, and a long drying time. In general, we do not recommend it.

Lucky

Varnishes are used to highlight the natural beauty of wood. When choosing the appropriate type, pay attention to the features of the construction material and its operating conditions. Varnish coatings, like paints, come in several varieties:

Alcohol. This coating protects the stairs from biological and mechanical damage. But its significant drawback is the low degree of moisture resistance. Therefore, it is better to use it as a base layer to give the wood the desired shade.
Alkyd and alkyd-urethane. They are used for external and internal structures. A solid transparent film with an inconspicuous tint serves as a reliable barrier against moisture and other negative factors.
Formaldehyde. The design will become more resistant to wear. The resins included in the composition improve the adhesion of the varnish to the wood. The only drawback is toxicity and a characteristic odor, which quickly disappears, but requires wearing a respirator during application.
Polyester. After hardening, they form a hard, durable film that protects the stairs from moisture and other negative influences. If you want to make your design shine, use polyester varnish.
Epoxy. These are two-component solutions that are used with hardeners. They prevent the destruction of the structure under the influence of moisture, alkalis and provide it with mechanical strength.
Polyurethane. They are characterized by a high degree of wear and resistance to mechanical stress. The high price of varnish is justified by its long service life and high performance characteristics.
Yachting. The hard and durable varnish coating has good elasticity. This means that when the structure is deformed, the varnish layer does not peel off or crack. Thanks to its composition, yacht varnish is wear-resistant, has good resistance to fungi, has increased resistance to UV rays, and is moisture-resistant.

Stains

This type of impregnation is characterized by antiseptic properties. Varnish is often applied over the stain as an additional layer. But at the same time, you need to pay attention to the compatibility of these funds.

Under the influence of stain, the natural color of the wood becomes more saturated, and the texture of the wood becomes more contrasting.

For wooden stairs, the best impregnation is oil or wax based. Sometimes the stain may contain a dye that gives the material a certain color.

Recommendations for choosing colors

The palette of possible colors is very diverse and depends on the taste preferences of the owner of the house or cottage. But first of all, you need to start from the style of the interior.

The staircase can be of any shade, ranging from muted to bright radiant colors. But most often they prefer a single color.

But sometimes there are more original designs that include up to five shades. They often experiment with contrasting colors, painting the steps in one tone, and the railings and handrails in another. It looks very impressive and original.

To avoid mistakes when choosing a color, you must take into account the following recommendations:

when using several colors, it is recommended to paint each part before assembling the entire structure;
to get a dark shade of the stairs, mix the impregnation with the topcoat. This will allow the product to penetrate the structure of the material, which will ensure that the color of the product is preserved for a long time;
To lighten wood, translucent glazing compounds with light coloring pigments are used.

Are impregnations necessary?

Their main function is to give the wood special properties, thanks to which it will not deteriorate and be destroyed under the influence of external factors.

Impregnation penetrates into the wood structure and gives it a velvety shade.

Impregnations are presented in the form of a liquid that easily penetrates the structure of the material without creating a film on its surface.

The market offers a wide range of impregnations that differ from each other in composition, properties and purpose. When producing a protective agent, water, nitrocellulose or organic substances are used as a basis.

Impregnations are used for various purposes. Depending on this they are:

Anti-rotting. These are solutions that contain additional antifungal substances.
From insects.
From ignition. Such impregnations are made on a salt basis. It is believed that they prevent the material from igniting to some extent.
Base for final painting. In this capacity, impregnation allows you to reduce the consumption of varnish or paint.
Dye. They give the tree a certain tone and help align its structure.

Recently, more universal impregnations have begun to appear on sale, which perform not just one, but a number of functions.

Treatment of softwood stairs

Staircase structures made of pine differ from products made of beech, larch, oak or other types of wood in that they require additional processing.

Before final processing of a wooden pine staircase inside the house, it is necessary to de-resin it for a number of reasons:

The resin substance protruding from the wood forms a film on the surface of the material that prevents paint from penetrating into the fibers. As a result, layers of paint will chip off during use, worsening the condition of the stairs.
Areas with resin begin to darken over time.
Coloring substances are deposited in an uneven layer on the resin surface.

Resin removal refers to the process of cleaning the surface from excess resin. To carry out this procedure, you will need solvents.

For coniferous trees, a 25% acetone solution is ideal. To apply it use a brush. The surface of the material treated with the solution is washed with warm water and allowed time to dry completely. If there are very tarred places on the structure, they should be removed with a knife. The resulting depressions are leveled with putty.

To prepare a solution for degumming, you need the following ingredients:

1 liter of hot water;
potash – 50 g;
baking soda – about 50 g;
grated soap – 40 g;
acetone – 1 glass;
alcohol – 10 g.

Painting a wooden pine staircase is done after the wood has completely dried. As a rule, 1-2 days are enough.

Selection of varnish depending on the type of wood

When choosing a paint and varnish material, it is important to consider the type of wood from which the stair elements are made. If you need to varnish coniferous wood containing a large amount of resin, then it is better to choose some kind of opaque varnish mixture.

When varnishing hornbeam, beech, ash or oak, as well as other exotic wood species, it is best to choose a colorless composition that will emphasize and highlight the natural attractiveness and texture of the wood. If there are any defects on the wood, the surface is first puttied to mask the damage, after which the base is sanded, and then a varnish solution is applied.

The production of alkyd varnishes is based on alkyd resins dissolved in white spirit or other organic solvent. They have high wear resistance, increased strength, and are not afraid of changes in temperature and humidity. So they can be safely used when processing street stairs.

What is the best way to paint a pine staircase?

The optimal means for covering a pine flight of stairs are enamel paints, as well as alkyd and polyurethane yacht varnishes.
To preserve the beautiful structural pattern of wood, diluted products are used.
To hide defects in the material or give it a new shade, the paint is not diluted before application.
In order for the coloring matter to lay down in a beautiful, even layer, the surface should be cleaned of debris and dust.
Pigmented dyes are used to mask defects on steps.
For previously painted structures, urethane-alkyd solutions are used.

Preparatory work

First, all existing construction debris is completely removed.
If necessary, wash the levels and elements of staircases.
Dry it.
Assess the need for puttying and grinding work. They are performed if necessary.

Prepare the surface for finishing work.

Attention! If puttying is done, you will have to wait at least 48 hours for the solution to completely set. Then the excess is removed with abrasive materials and the surface is ground. It happens that such operations are performed several times.

Step-by-step instructions for painting stairs

Sometimes they resort to the help of specialists from construction companies for painting. They, of course, know their business and do the work with 100% quality, but you will have to fork out a significant amount for their services.

If you are not ready for this, then you can do everything yourself. Just be extremely careful and strictly follow the instructions:

Before starting work, remove debris, dirt, and wipe off dust not only from the structure, but also from the room in which it is located.
Fill any existing chips and cracks with wood putty.
Allow the putty to dry completely for 1 day, and then smooth out all imperfections with sandpaper or a sander.
Remove any debris and dust that has formed, as even barely noticeable particles of dust will spoil the appearance of the stairs.
Apply primer or stain to the flight of stairs twice at intervals of 24 hours.
Before applying paint to the surface of the material, it must be mixed well - this will break up the clots and lumps that have formed there.
The dye can be applied with a spray gun, roller, or brush. Avoid the formation of frozen paint droplets.
To prevent cracks from forming on the stairs when the dye dries, the air in the room should be moderately humid.

If you are going to cover a fresh structure only with varnish, then there is no need to prime the wood. However, if we are talking about an old staircase, then a primer is still necessary. The varnish is applied in at least three layers. In this case, a new layer is applied to the product after the previous one has dried. Read a detailed article about varnishing stairs.

With these simple steps you can easily update your staircase.