Sanding Stairs

[asimon]

I have Victorian property, whereby by I need repair and make good the staircase the carpet is off and it seem relatively good, however a number of the treads of squeaking, but I have an idea how to remedy this via my DIY book, the spindles seem to be of the Victorian type, going by pictures I have seen, however some are missing, and a number are not the same, not sure if this is deliberate, or if the previous owners couldn’t find the same ones to replace with. I wish to have the handrail back to the wood, paint the spindles white, the actually stairs itself, I wish to have the carpet just going up the middle with those bras poles holding the carpet, and the sides left bare (varnished or painted white), not sure of the technically name for this, or wants the standard practice in leaving the stairs varnished or painted.

I need to sand the stairs, as there are a bit rough the grain is raised.

Could anyone advise me on the best Sander to use Orbital, Orbital Random, and Belt?

I have done a search on the forum, but they all seem to mention about floorboards only, which is another task I have to perform.

Any comments or suggestions welcomed

 

[Penners]

To sort out your squeaks, you need to have a look at the underside of the staircase, if that's possible. In order to pinpoint the squeaks, it's useful if you can get someone to help you - they walk up and down the stairs while you watch and listen underneath to identify the exact sources of squeaks.

The squeaking will probably be due to one or both of two things:-

1. Have a look at the way that the treads and risers are housed into the strings (ie: the angled members up each side of the treads). They may be secured by wedges, one or more of which might have come loose. If they have, you need to re-secure them with wood glue and screws. Hammer them tightly into the tapered grooves before finally re-fixing them.

2. The other possibility is that the back edge of each tread is not rebated and tongued into a groove in the bottom of the riser. This can allow the back edge of the tread to scrape on the surface of the riser as weight is put on it, causing squeaking. If this is the case, then you'll have to devise a way of preventing this movement. If the bottom edge of the riser extends well below the tread, this might leave you enough space to screw & glue a batten on it to support the tread. if not, you may have to see whether you can screw horizontally through the bottom of the riser into the back edge of the tread. This works best if you can prise the two carefully apart and add some glue as well. Be sure that you drill pilot holes and that your screws enter the edge of the treads exactly centrally, otherwise you may cause splits. Don't use screws any thicker than no. 8.

For sanding your stairs, the very best machine would be a belt sander, used in line with the grain. However, you simply won't get this into all the corners, so I would use an orbital sander with a rectangular (not round) platten. Start with fairly coarse paper (maybe 80G) and finish with fine (120G or finer). If you can get hold of a delta sander too, this will help with the final difficult corners.

 

[asimon]

Thanks for the advice

 

[Toby Newell]

Random Orbital + dust extractor + P40 grit through to P150 grit.

Makita 6" RO £130 Metabo SXE450 DUO £150, Bosch 6" RO £150, Festo Rotex £330, Mafell 6" RO £250.

You will need a cabinet scraper for the edges no need for delta sander.

BTW belt sanders are about £230 for a decent one (makita v good 4" belt or Hitachi) they weigh the same as a heavy bag of shopping and fling grit into your eyes. If anyone is strong enough to use one on stairs then well done! Smaller belt sanders are frankly useless and a belt sander can ruin your wood work if you dont use a sanding "cage" to keep it flat.

Personally I would repaint your treads, the work involved in removing all the paint etc is just too much. I have stripped several painted staircases but advise my customers not to bother with the treads and risers unless they MUST have it done.

Toby

 

[Penners]

Expensive woodworking machinery is well worth the investment if you're going to use it a lot.

For the occasional job, modestly priced machines will work fine. My £75 belt sander has done decent duty for me for about 4 years, doesn't weigh too much and certainly doesn't fling grit in my eyes (mind you, goggles are always a sensible precaution for any abrasive job).

 

[thiambal]

Carpet rods and carpet runners look great! But if you have not already done so look at the price of decent rods (new and reclaimed) and appropriate carpet and check you want to spend that money. It can be fearsomely expensive compared to a modern fitted carpet.

Not trying to put you off, just no point spending a fortune preparing the stairs to then be put off by the price of the rods and carpet

 

[Lime]

I would have the original spindles (balusters) copied and the non-matching balusters replaced.