Victorian Stairs

[Penners]

Drat and double drat Penners.

I missed the post where you became PPUK's most prolific poster ever (about 600 posts ago) and now I've missed your 10,000th post too.

I don't suppose you kept a record of this literary achievement, did you?

Nah - I just banked the cheque.

 

[CatherineB]

To return to topic, I spoke to my neighbour when we went round this afternoon...

I hope this will make more sense to others than to me, but he says he stained the wood with Sadolin wood protector, "natural", (two coats on the lighter wood, and only one on the darker wood achieved a consistent colour throughout), in fact it was this stuff:

http://www.sadolin.co.uk/homeowner/products/garden/classicwoodstain/description

and then topped that with clear Ronseal yacht varnish. This has a satin finish.

As he was busy pollarding his limes when I accosted him, I didn't quite have the brass to ask if I could take pictures of some of his woodwork to post on the internet!

What do people think of that? It seems odd to me, to use external products on internal woodwork, and I don't know how "sympathetic" these products are, to the 1904 wood they are being used on.

 

[Penners]

It seems odd to me, to use external products on internal woodwork, and I don't know how "sympathetic" these products are, to the 1904 wood they are being used on.

Nothing that people do to their houses surprises me. I don't think the Sadolin is going to do the wood any harm, but I think you'd have a hell of a job to get it off (assuming you want to).

I still think your best bet is to paint the balusters. Try rubbing down the Sadolin with very fine sandpaper (silicone carbide type, grade P320, is good) and then painting over the top of it. Make sure you do a small test area first, to ensure that the paint is compatible with the Sadolin.

On the matter of what colour to use, I have a feeling that the "status" of your house (in Victorian terms) is an influencing factor, but in general I would always defer to Nigel Watts over such matters. His knowledge of Victorian decor is vastly superior to mine.

 

[CatherineB]

I still think your best bet is to paint the balusters. Try rubbing down the Sadolin with very fine sandpaper (silicone carbide type, grade P320, is good) and then painting over the top of it. Make sure you do a small test area first, to ensure that the paint is compatible with the Sadolin..

Oh, pretty sure I will be painting mine! But Diane was asking what I'd seen next door, where my neighbours have theirs stripped and stained, as she has already stripped hers... The neighbours' stained woodwork looks lovely, and I guess would keep water out, since we all know Ronseal does what it says on the tin...

I will need to start a separate post later on, regarding best ways to sand and repaint mine... I still have acres of paper to strip from the hall/stairs/landing walls, so plenty to do in the meantime!