More refinishing stairs

 Kristen has been spending some long days working on the stairs. There are several steps involved. First, the paint is removed with a stripper and all the gummy layers are scraped off. An electric multi-tool scraper helps to get the corners and edges. Once it is down to the lower levels of paint, a brush and pad are used to remove some of the paint in the grooves. Finally, the steps are carefully picked over using an old dental tool. We will then wash them to make sure all the paint stripper is gone before putting on some urethane. Hopefully that will fill most holes and cracks but some wood putty may be needed too.

 

 The process takes hours per step and we have been working on alternating treads so we are still able to go up and down without tracking the paint stripper and pieces of flaky/gummy paint. None of the treads are 100% complete but some are getting closer.

 

 The edges are the hardest because they have the most wear and lots of grooves and holes to pick at. It is also harder to see beneath them to make sure the paint is gone.