Refinishing old oak floors - best practices refinishing original stairway treads/risers?

Friend asked for help with his recent purchase, he's hoping I can refinish his original oak floor from the 50s. I have years of experience refinishing gyms, installing hardwood, and finishing tens of thousands of feet of flooring in my early post-college years, but I've somehow never handled stairs. I'm wondering what the consensus is on the best way to handle original beat-up risers and treads, as well as the best way to apply my finish of choice Bona Traffic HD to treads/risers? The risers are in particular nasty shape, with raw wood showing from massive gouges where someone must've steel-toed some frustration out on their way to the upstairs. My only real solution (unless someone has a better/smarter idea), is to remove the treads as best I can, and potentially the risers, too, so that the majority of the plane is exposed for sanding and repair. It's just, with an original floor in place, Please, if anyone has a way to do it where I could leave them in place that won't break my ass with block-sanding, I'm all ears. Then that takes me to the eventual application of finish. Is it better to apply a few coats uninstalled, ConAd/micropin installation, and then apply a final very light coat after installation? Just install pre-finished steps? My concern with finishing in situ is having the finish drip/run over the bullnose and cascade lines of project-fucking runnels down all exposed faces. Thanks! submitted by /u/wellwrittenhate [link] [comments]

Mar 11, 2025 - 02:20

Friend asked for help with his recent purchase, he's hoping I can refinish his original oak floor from the 50s. I have years of experience refinishing gyms, installing hardwood, and finishing tens of thousands of feet of flooring in my early post-college years, but I've somehow never handled stairs. I'm wondering what the consensus is on the best way to handle original beat-up risers and treads, as well as the best way to apply my finish of choice Bona Traffic HD to treads/risers?

The risers are in particular nasty shape, with raw wood showing from massive gouges where someone must've steel-toed some frustration out on their way to the upstairs.

My only real solution (unless someone has a better/smarter idea), is to remove the treads as best I can, and potentially the risers, too, so that the majority of the plane is exposed for sanding and repair. It's just, with an original floor in place, Please, if anyone has a way to do it where I could leave them in place that won't break my ass with block-sanding, I'm all ears.

Then that takes me to the eventual application of finish. Is it better to apply a few coats uninstalled, ConAd/micropin installation, and then apply a final very light coat after installation? Just install pre-finished steps? My concern with finishing in situ is having the finish drip/run over the bullnose and cascade lines of project-fucking runnels down all exposed faces.

Thanks!

submitted by /u/wellwrittenhate
[link] [comments]