Stair Remodel...Step by Step Part 2 - Treads and Risers

We started this project back at the end of March and then our work schedules got crazy and we only were able to work on it a bit at a time...which made it feel like we were going to live with OSB stair treads for the rest of our days.

But the hubby had some "use it or lose it" leave and so he stayed home this past week and made some real progress.

First, staining the treads. We did 3 coats of stain with polyurethane. We couldn't find an exact stain that matched the rest of our wood in the house - the premixed ones were either too red or too black - so we made our own by doing one coat Minwax Bombay Mahogany and two coats Espresso. They recommended three coats since it was for flooring and would be used heavily.

Each coat had to dry for a minimum of seven hours. Once dry, we scrubbed with steel wool to rough up the surface and applied the next coat. The stain, as you can see in the picture, was very drippy and made quite a mess.

TIPS:
* Use disposable gloves
* Vegetable oil will remove stain from your skin

We had to do fourteen treads total, so we did the seven bottom ones first. Since the front of the tread has trim that hangs down, we balanced the treads on canned food while we painted. I'm so excited to have this done - I was missing all my pumpkin!

Next, the risers - the vertical parts of the steps. This was an unexpected challenge. We needed boards that were 5/8" thick and since I wanted to paint them white they needed to be smooth. Wood ones at the box store were rather $$$, so we went with 12' MDF boards that were the exact height we needed (7.25" I think) and then cut those to the right lengths. It was more cost effective to get the long boards since we could get 2 risers out of every board.

Once we were halfway up, it was time to tackle the landing. Since you have to build your stairs from the bottom up, we couldn't continue onto the top half of the stairs without the landing. And the landing brought with its own challenges...and so, the landing stayed unfinished for 3 months...

See the Whole Project Here: 

Stair Remodel...Step by Step...Part 1
Stair Remodel...Step by Step...Part 3 The Landings