Having a Staircase Painted That Handles Daily Use

Having a staircase painted is mostly preparation. First all the grease and dirt come off, because hands and socks leave more on the handrail and treads than you see. Then we sand with Festool in progressively finer grits, 150, 180 and 240, until the old lacquer is matt and flat. Bare spots get primer, dents and damage get filler, and joints along the wall get a bead of sealant where needed. Only then do two coats of lacquer follow. The underside of the handrail gets attention too, because that is where your hand rests every day.

That sounds like a lot of work for a few square metres, and it is. A staircase is full of corners, edges and spindles that you cannot reach with a roller. That is why hours count for more here than surface area.

A door hangs, a staircase gets walked on. On the nosing of the tread, where your foot pushes off, lacquer wears fastest, and on a glossy surface you see that straight away. On top of that, lacquer feels dry quickly but only really hardens later. If you walk on it too early, the prints of your socks stay in it.

The sheen is a choice with consequences too. High gloss on treads shows every scratch and can feel slippery. On a staircase we therefore usually choose a calmer sheen, especially if children or pets use it. You can read the difference at high gloss or satin gloss.

Yes, with some planning. In a house with only one staircase we often paint the treads alternately: first the even ones, then the odd ones after drying. That way you can still get upstairs with a big stride, although that is no fun with small children or a bad knee. Another option is to plan the job for the days you are away.

At the site visit we agree which days the stairs cannot be used at all and which days you can use them in socks. That depends on the drying time of the primer and the lacquer, and on whether there is a bathroom upstairs that you need. Pets stay on the other side of the door on those days.

When you remove the stair carpet, glue residue and staples often appear. Those have to come off first, otherwise you will see them through the lacquer later. On an old staircase there are sometimes many layers on top of each other, and in a pre-war house there may still be lead-based paint among them. White lead has been banned indoors since 1939 (source OnderhoudNL), but what went on back then is often still there. If in doubt, we do not sand dry. How that works you can read at old paint and lead.

If a tread creaks or has a crack, that is first a matter of small carpentry work. We do that ourselves, so you do not have to call a second company for it.

You do not have to measure anything to get a first answer. With this information we can already say a lot, and the site visit does the rest:

• A photo of the whole staircase, from below and from above.
• A close-up of a tread, so we can see the current coating and the wear.
• The number of treads, and whether the staircase is open or closed.
• Whether a handrail, spindles or a balustrade on the landing are part of it.
• The year your home was built, because of old paint layers.
• Whether there is carpet on it now and whether it has to come off.
• The colour you have in mind, and whether the stairs must stay in use.

A staircase is rarely priced per square metre, because the time mostly goes into spindles and edges. These are the national market indications to keep an eye on:

The price depends on an open or closed staircase, the number of spindles, the condition of the old lacquer and whether you change colour. At MJA you get a fixed price after the site visit, no hourly invoice. More on how it is made up is at the cost of painting a staircase. Dutch VAT of 9 percent applies to painting work on a home that is two years old or more.

You send a message with photos, via WhatsApp or the form. Mohamed is your point of contact, so you have one person on the line from start to finish. On site we look at the substrate and discuss colour and sheen. Then you receive a fixed quote with exactly the agreed work. At handover we go through the staircase together, tread by tread.

In their Google reviews customers mainly mention the clear communication and the neat taping, and MJA scores 4.8 from 25 reviews there. On a staircase you notice that in the skirting boards and the wall alongside the treads: there should be no lacquer on them. We are members of OnderhoudNL and a recognised training company.

A freshly painted staircase often makes the walls next to it suddenly look dull. That is why it pays to include the hallway, landing and doors in the same job. Then you only deal with dust in the house once, and the colours are matched straight away. In Workum we did an interior renovation from ceiling to skirting boards, and that coherence makes the difference. We then do the skirting boards along the stairs in one go. At interior painting in Friesland you can see what else we do indoors.

Want to know what your staircase needs? Send two photos and the number of treads via the quote request, or call or WhatsApp 06 3006 0558. We work from Mirns across Friesland.