advice pls-painting wood stairs
The stairs to the second floor of my duplex are painted white. I dont want to strip them–just cant deal with it–but they are scuffed. I would like to repaint them white and wallpaper the risers with a fun washable wall paper. Do I need to sand the stairs all the wat down to the…
The stairs to the second floor of my duplex are painted white. I dont want to strip them–just cant deal with it–but they are scuffed. I would like to repaint them white and wallpaper the risers with a fun washable wall paper. Do I need to sand the stairs all the wat down to the wood first? (I hope not!) Should I prime over the paint and paint over the primer?
Please advise and thanks!
Risers will get scuffed regardless of what you do, so wallpaper is iffy, as is white paint. A darker paint might not show scuffs as much.
First get a paint scraper and remove and loose paint, then sand it to even it out (you do not need to get to bare wood as long as paint is sound)then prime with a very good primer. I think alkyd is the best but a pain to work with. Acrylics work very well. A paint made for floors will wear much better but wallpaper on the risers will be a mess in 6 months. Buy the best paints you can afford.
You’d only need to sand to the wood if you wanted to strip and clear finish. You want to sand lightly to remove dirt, roughness, and gloss from old paint. Then prime. I’m sure there’s some tough paint you should use rather than standard paint, but not familiar…