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Wooden stairs have become a familiar element of any country house or cottage. Wooden stairs are very comfortable to use, beautiful and able to add extraordinary comfort to the entire interior and even make the atmosphere in the cottage warmer. But wood is a rather capricious material: it equally badly perceives both heat and cold, as well as quick transitions from one to another, it does not like the effects of water and in general humid air, its surface wears out from constant interaction with shoes.
To protect the stairs country house From all this, and therefore, to extend its service, one cannot do without such an operation as painting a wooden staircase. Overall painting wooden stairs does not cause any particular difficulties, however, as in any business, there are some nuances here.
The list of such features is quite wide: starting with which product is best suited specifically for the stairs in your cottage, and ending with the question of how to apply the selected product and how to do it correctly, that is, how to prepare the stairs for painting, how to apply the product and how to make the staircase of a country house give you pleasure with its unsurpassedly beautiful view for as long as possible.
This is the first question that a person who decides to do such a thing as painting a wooden staircase with his own hands puts in front of him. And this is perhaps the most difficult stage of the entire operation, since today there are many means by which you can paint a wooden staircase. From the choice of a specific tool, the appearance of the stairs can change unrecognizably, or it can remain almost the same as before painting.
The first thing you need to decide when choosing a tool is what you want to achieve in the end: do you dream of “fitting” the staircase into color scheme interior or keep the external charm natural wood with its graceful divorces and exquisitely noble shade.
All products intended for painting stairs can be divided into several groups:
Consider the features of the funds from each group in more detail.
Paints are used if you want to give it a certain color or shade when performing such work as painting a wooden staircase, to bring it into line with the general color of the interior surrounding the stairs. As a rule, we are talking about oil paints.
But the oil paints themselves for painting wooden stairs are divided into several varieties, each of which has its own characteristics:
In addition, paints can be thickly grated, they must first be prepared for use by dissolving the powder in drying oil, or already completely ready.
The choice of drying oil has great importance. On the container with drying oil they write whether it is natural or artificial. Natural drying oil has excellent resistance to any impact environment. But artificial drying oil is not so hardy. Therefore, if you decide to paint a street staircase, you need to buy natural drying oil to dilute the paint. For stairs inside the house, a cheaper artificial one is also suitable.
Stair painting wooden varnish are used if there is a desire to leave the visible texture of the tree. Varnishes can be either completely colorless, practically not changing the shade of wood, or colored: most often they make the natural color of wood brighter, slightly darkened, but at the same time the natural pattern becomes clearer. There are also many varieties of varnishes for painting wooden stairs:
When choosing a varnish, please note that they can be matte and glossy. And although glossy varnishes give the wooden surface a more “shiny” look, it is best to use matte varnishes for stairs, as they can “hide” any defects in the wood. And glossy on the contrary - emphasize all the "weak" places.
Painting a wooden staircase can also be done with enamels or stains. Enamel is a kind of mixture of varnish and paint. As a result, it simultaneously gives the surface of a wooden staircase a certain color when painting, and covers it with a shiny film, which, among other things, also has a protective function. But enamel also has one drawback, due to which it is very rare to see such a coating on stairs - it does not tolerate interaction with water.
If you still decide to cover the stairs with enamel, then give up glossy enamel in favor of matte. The fact is that the steps covered with glossy enamel will become very slippery, and this is completely unacceptable for stairs.
Mordants- these are rather not even dyes, but impregnations for a wooden staircase. Although the wood on which the stain is applied will still change its color: it will become slightly darker, and its pattern will be more pronounced. The advantage of the stain is that it not only reliably protects the tree from moisture, decay, the effects of various pests and other adverse factors, but also gives it new properties - for example, fire safety.
Often, the stairs are treated with a stain before varnish is applied to it. In this case, it is necessary to carefully choose the varnish itself: it should “lay down” well on the stain and adhere perfectly to its surface. The choice of the type of varnish depends on the choice of the type of stain, so when buying, you should use the recommendation of a specialist.
Although painting a wooden staircase is not at all difficult, a certain sequence and extreme accuracy must be observed here. The stages of work here depend on which product you have chosen for painting the wooden stairs, that is, whether you want to paint the staircase “tightly” or varnish it, while maintaining the external charm of wood.
If you want to continue to admire the beauty of the wood pattern, then painting the stairs will consist of the following steps:
When painting stairs, attention should be paid not only to the cleanliness of the steps, but also to the fact that it is clean in the whole room where the stairs are located. After all, dust or dirt from the floor or furniture surface can get on the steps at the most inopportune moment when you apply a coloring agent to them, and it will be difficult to remove them without removing the already applied layer.
If you are deresining the wood of the stairs, then the next stage of work cannot be carried out immediately. Before proceeding with further painting, you will have to wait until the wood dries completely.
If you decide to cover the stairs with opaque paint, then after cleaning it, you must follow the following sequence:
As you can see, for a complete and high-quality painting of stairs, more than one day is required. At the same time, stairs are often located in such a way that it is completely impossible to stop using them even for one day. Therefore, the masters advise to paint the stairs through the step. Of course, going up and down such a ladder is not very convenient, but in any case, you can continue to use it even during the painting period.
Stairs are important element interior in a two-story house. But since the owners are constantly using them, these items quickly lose their beautiful appearance: scratches and marks from heels appear on the steps, scuffs from soft shoes, varnish and paint are erased on the railing handrails from holding them when ascending or descending. In addition to the human factor, wooden stairs located outside the house are exposed to moisture and sun rays, temperature fluctuations, which leads to damage to the steps or drying out of the structure. All of the above factors indicate that it is urgent to paint the stairs to update it. appearance and extension of service life.
To properly paint the stairs, you need to: choose a paint and primer, prepare the surface for painting, assemble necessary tools and materials for work.
In order for the steps and railings to look “like new” for as long as possible after the aesthetic repair, the owner of the house must use high-quality paints and varnishes. Since painting the stairs well is not an easy task, you need to know the sequence and correctness of all the actions of the restoration being carried out. Here are all these actions:
When choosing paintwork materials for stairs, the owner should pay attention to 2 things: the location of the structure and the type and color of the wood from which the gangway is made.
If the structure is on the street, then paint it better material on the natural drying oil. Good for gangways and alkyd paint. It dries quickly and penetrates deep into the product, providing it with strength and for a long time without losing its bright color. The strong smell of alkyd, even after it has completely dried, is another reason not to use paint indoors. For stairs located outside the house, it is worth buying nitrocellulose varnish - it is more resistant to frost and precipitation. For interior spaces advise to apply oil paint on artificial drying oil or enamel, alcohol-based varnish.
Alkyd paint - dries quickly, does not lose color, ensures the strength of the product.
Paints make the surface of wood matte or glossy. Many owners want to paint the stairs with glossy enamel so that the gangway shines, and forget that a smooth surface is more slippery. To reduce the risk of injury, steps are recommended to cover them with semi-gloss or matte paints.
In order for the staircase to shine beautifully, it is better to apply polish or impregnation (stain). The polish is applied to already painted steps and railings. Oil or wax based impregnation is well suited for novice owners who are painting wood for the first time. It is good because it does not absorb quickly, and you can not be afraid to put a stain, as would be the case with alcohol impregnation, which is absorbed instantly. Impregnation not only gives the tree beautiful shade, but also, thanks to the glossy film created on the surface of the tree, it is a good antiseptic.
Oil-based impregnation is an antiseptic and gives the wood a beautiful glossy finish.
As for the type of wood, here it must be borne in mind that spruce, pine and other conifers, due to the release of resins, worsen the adhesion of the wood surface with varnish. In addition, they non-uniformly absorb paint and varnish: dense wood is less, and loose wood is more. As a result, painting consists of applying multiple layers of coating to the surface. There are no such problems with hardwood gangways.
Staircase from light colors wood should be painted light colors and varnishes, dark - on the contrary. The rule here is that the color of the coating should be as close as possible to the original shade of the wood. Very often, the owners prefer to use a transparent varnish, so as not to hide, but to emphasize the natural beauty of the design.
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In addition to the varnishes or paints chosen by the owners, they will need for work:
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Old paint is removed with a spatula.
If you need to paint an old staircase, you must first remove the obsolete layer of paint from it. For this purpose, a conventional spatula is usually used. It is easy for them to clean the surface of wood from peeled and cracked paint, which is especially true for outdoor stairs. In other cases, it is easy to scratch the wood with a spatula. There are many liquid or jelly products now available that make the process of lagging easier. old paint from a wooden surface. These funds are applied to stair steps and railings, the paint begins to bubble, and is easily removed with a spatula. Then the tree needs to be wiped with white spirit and sanded a little sandpaper.
The next step is to putty the stair surface. It is better to buy a putty that is as close as possible in color to the wood. She uses a spatula to mask dents, scratches, uneven steps. Then give it time to dry and sand the wood with sandpaper. After that, you need to wait a few days so that the wooden villi of the surface straighten out and can be easily removed when re-sanding.
In order for the paint to better adhere to the surface, it is necessary to prime the steps with a primer suitable for the type of coating.
Before applying paints to the stairs, after grinding, it will be necessary to prime the gangways with a primer suitable for the type of coating so that the paint adheres to the surface better. The primer is applied to the stairs with a roller or brush 2 times. It should be remembered that it dries for a long time - from 24 hours in summer to several days in winter. After drying, the surface of the stairs is wiped with a soft cloth. If the owners plan to paint the steps and railings with varnish, instead of a primer, you need to apply a layer of stain on them and also give it time to dry.
Wooden stairs, which are in almost every country house, and even in urban two-storey houses and apartments, are able to decorate the interior, bring special notes to stylistic decision premises. But you need to remember that all wooden structures require maintenance. After all, a tree can dry out, crack, rot from dampness over time, insect pests can start in it. Therefore, the wooden stairs are painted.
Your choice will depend on how much you want to preserve the natural color of the wood, as well as its structure. Paints with high tinting strength, for example, alkyd enamels, they will not allow you to do this, but you may not need it. But translucent tinting compositions will change color, but the structure of the tree will remain visible. The color range of such paints is small, but it has all the basic natural colors. They are completely colorless, then the coating will simply perform a protective function.
Tinted paints are short-lived, so it would be wise to protect them by applying a varnish over the paint. It will also be advantageous from an aesthetic point of view. At the same time, it is not necessary to choose a glossy varnish - there are matte and semi-matte, and they will look more appropriate on the stairs. Among other things, the varnish coating will additionally protect the wood from all of the above destructive factors.
So, a high-quality multi-layer coating of stairs with paints with your own hands will reliably protect the product from the influence of many negative factors:
The surface preparation process consists of several stages:
Now you can start painting. They begin work with small structural elements - handrails, balusters, racks. Steps are painted last. For them, it is better to use a roller.
If you still decide to varnish a wooden staircase, remember that it must be applied in several layers using paint brushes or rollers. Each subsequent layer is dried and cleaned with sandpaper - this is the key to a smooth surface without air bubbles. The surface painted with several layers is much stronger, more durable and more beautiful.
The wooden staircase in the house looks amazing. Wood is not just one of the most eco-friendly materials, it has a special energy and is able to bring comfort and magical warmth to any room. At the same time, unfortunately, it is not capable, like, for example, metal or glass, for a very long term maintain its unchanged appearance and more often requires restoration. And if the wooden staircase is outside, the impact external factors can be ruthless.
Protecting and maintaining this noble structure is the task of any good owner. Painting a wooden staircase with your own hands is quite real, given all the nuances and requirements for wood processing. Our article will help you with this.
So, let's deal first with the materials that are used to create a protective coating.
Wood putty.Used on initial stage. Needs to be sanded and sanded wooden elements stairs. This is necessary to get rid of defects, as well as to create a layer of coating that is resistant to moisture penetration.
The color of the putty is determined by the color of the wood. There is a variety of brands on the market offering materials with a wide palette for different types of wood (Tikkurila, Lakra, Eurotex, also domestic Raduga, Extra, etc.).
Antiseptic.It has an antimicrobial, antifungal effect, protects against harmful insects. Types of antiseptics:
There are various brands on the market: Tikkurila, Aquatex, Neomid, Senezh, Pirilax, etc. When using the compositions, it is important to follow the instructions, strictly observing the indicated proportions.
Fire protection impregnation. Necessary requirement for wooden structures. It is carried out at the stage of manufacturing stairs. Then the procedure should be repeated every five years.
Stain.With its help, you can easily give the tree the desired shade. Unlike paint, it penetrates deep into the structure of the tree.
Strengthens the surface by gluing wood fibers, counteracts the absorption of moisture, disinfects, helps to reduce the consumption of paint or varnish. by the most the best option there will be a universal primer, however, for expensive wood species, you can opt for a specialized one. Fresh wood must be processed at least twice, after having previously cycled and polished.
At the final stage of creating a coating, paint or varnish is used. About them we will talk below.
Painting stairs is a way not only to create a protective coating on a wooden surface, but also to implement various design solutions to create unique objects.
The main selection criterion will be the location of the stairs - indoors or outdoors. Based on this, attention should be paid to wear resistance, durability, resistance to temperature changes, external factors, toxicity, elasticity, fire resistance, drying time and coating consumption. Types of paints differ in the nature of the composition, which determines their main characteristics. Allocate:
The design can be ennobled and protected with varnish. Depending on the composition and properties, the following varieties are distinguished:
Beautiful wooden stairs are also obtained after painting with enamel, which is a mixture of colorless varnish and coloring pigment. The requirements for them are the same as for the above coatings. Enamels from European manufacturers have such properties as high environmental friendliness, resistance to yellowing, strength, and the ability to protect the structure from aggressive environmental influences. We recommend applying them with an aerosol.
Now let's look at how to properly paint a wooden staircase. Main stages:
Preparatory work:It is important to achieve a perfectly smooth, uniform surface. Grinding is carried out with fine sandpaper or a scraping machine in two stages with a gap of a couple of days to remove the villi of the tree that have risen after the first time. For final cleaning use a vacuum cleaner.
Applying a finishing coat. When processing stairs with varnish or paint, a few basic rules should be observed:
We will write a little more about painting stairs from this type of wood, since in the process of working with resinous wood it is necessary to perform deresining. This can be done using the following composition. For 1 l hot water 200 ml of acetone, 50 g is taken baking soda, 10 ml of alcohol, 40 g of soap flakes, 50 g of potash.
The solution is applied with a brush, then wooden surface washes hot water then you need to let it dry. Paint for pine stairs is also applied in 3 layers, varnish needs 6-7 layers.
What color to paint the stairs in the house, you choose. Modern manufacturers coatings offer the consumer the widest range of color shades. AT classic version the color of the stairs is usually darker than the overall tone of the room. AT modern interiors sometimes the most courageous get the embodiment design solutions, but do not forget that the noble, natural color of wood will always remain out of competition - this is not an aging classic.
Internal staircase - functional element and a noticeable accent in the interior of the house. Most often it is built from pine wood. The task of the designer is to make sure that the architectural component blends harmoniously into the environment and performs its tasks for as long as possible. To do this, a pine staircase is treated with special products and painted in accordance with the overall design.
During the construction and decoration of budget wooden houses pine wood is used. This wood is not as durable as oak, cedar or larch, but is quite durable, more common, cheap and available. Pine is better than spruce because it has a denser texture and much less knots that reduce the strength of lumber.
Pine products are distinguished by a pleasant light golden or almost white color and a unique pattern.
Pine has a pleasant light golden or almost white color.
Pine is somewhat more difficult to work with than cedar or oak. Soft wood needs fine sanding and careful selection of processing agents.
The density of the material depends on the growing conditions of the tree:
So most of of the resulting lumber absorbs the means of processing unevenly. Under transparent coating unsightly spots appear, which for aesthetic reasons is extremely unpleasant. Gum (resin) contributes to the appearance of color spots on the surface of pine products. If the raw material is prepared in winter period, when the bulk of the resin is pumped by the tree into root system, the fibers remain drier, cleaner and stronger. They evenly absorb processing agents. On wood cut down during the spring-summer sap flow, stains and stains appear. Brought into a warm, dry room, it begins to push the resin out.
The steps of internal stairs are usually built from edged massive board. But often they use a glued board, which has greater strength and wear resistance. The difference in the color of the lamellas from which such a board is assembled is especially noticeable. In addition, due to changes in humidity, the lamellas begin to warp over time, gaps form between them.
On a glued board, the difference in the color of the lamellas is especially noticeable
If you want to leave the interfloor wooden staircase in its original natural color, you will have to use special means processing: primer, mastic, wax, stain. A simpler option is to apply a decorative opaque coating to a pine staircase.
The statement that a tree is beautiful and does not need to be painted is fundamentally wrong. Wood does have an attractive appearance, but it is very vulnerable to insects, mold, hard shoe soles, dirt, and fire. Steps wear out especially quickly.
Stair rungs wear out the fastest
Therefore, it is necessary to paint a pine staircase. If you want to see the natural pattern of wood, paint at least with a colorless varnish, but be sure to paint!
The paint creates a solid protective covering, which does not allow premature "wearing out" wood fibers. It is inedible for the bug and unsuitable for the settlement of rot and mold. Impregnation at times enhance protection and extend the life of the product.
For the processing of pine stairs are used:
In order for the coating to turn out to be of high quality and durable, cover the wood only with high-quality materials purchased in specialized stores or from manufacturers.
Types of paints | Advantages | disadvantages |
Oily | Moisture-resistant, saturated color, create a reliable protective film | They dry for a long time, do not “breathe”, have a sharp toxic smell, lose their shine in places of wear, are afraid of alkalis, and can peel off over time |
Moisture resistant, form the most durable and smooth surface, dry quickly, lie flat | They give only a matte surface, are intended only for interior work |
|
Acrylic, acrylate | Moisture-repellent, breathable, water-soluble, quick-drying, low-odour, smooth application | Gives only a matte finish |
Alkyd | Moisture resistant, dry quickly, form a smooth surface with a polishing effect |
For stairs, use matte or semi-gloss paints. Glossy steps and railings from constant use lose their luster over time and look untidy. It will not be possible to quickly refresh the color, you will have to grind and repaint all surfaces.
All work with paints and solvents should be carried out in the warm season to ensure constant ventilation of the room.
Before staining the entire staircase, experiment with the tone in a small, inconspicuous area.
Glossy surface wear looks especially unsightly
The best varnish for steps is polyurethane parquet. It is expensive, but extremely durable.
When working with a spray gun, the use of a respirator is mandatory.
Painting interior stairs is not difficult and is quite affordable. home master. If you have purchased high-quality materials and followed the technology while working, your staircase will fulfill its tasks and look brilliant for a very long time.