Would re-doing the stairs and handrail be prohibitively expensive?

by

Q: I have oak parquet in living/dining and kitchen, and oak stair treads and handrail. Everything is stained dark ebony. I want to refinish, and would like to have a lighter, taupe/grey, high-gloss look.

Questions – (1) Is this possible?

(2) Would re-doing the stairs and handrail be prohibitively expensive- enough to make me consider keeping the ebony?

A: One thing that needs to be kept in mind with stains is that it is about impossible to remove all trace of stain from heavy grain. So, if you go from ebony to a pastel like taupe, you will still have some trace in the heavy grain and it will show. It is impossible to predict how significant that would be. It also works the other way when going from, say a white stain to ebony.

Your case would be even more expensive because a non yellowing water borne finish would have to be used with a pastel colour. They are always more costly. About a third more.

Related Questions

  • Carpeted stairs

    Currently we have carpeted stairs with open risers from our lower level to upper level. What is the best way to replace with hardwoods?

  • Building codes and handrail height

    Should I/we be concerned with the resulting handrail height? It would be about 1 1/16" lower with respect to the new treads. Would this violate any building codes?

  • Staining visible stairs

    Do we need to stain and/or polyurethane the entire piece of wood, or is it okay to just finish the parts of the stairs that are visible?

  • Squeaking laminate stairs

    I've just finished putting laminate on my stairs. They look great but the squeaking is terrible. I made sure before I put the flooring down that all the squeaks in the rough lumber were gone. Any suggestions?

  • Refinishing plywood stairs

    I pulled up my carpet on the steps in my split foyer, and I found what looks like plywood. I tried to sand, stain and poly it but I cannot get a smooth finish all over. What can I do to fix this? Also, I would like to take the…

  • Textured finish for stairs

    Our stairs are made of 4X10in rough cut pine planed and sanded. Is there a textured finish I can apply to cut down on being too slippery?