Repainting the Stairs

So the front steps have been peeling, and we wanted to get them repainted before the rain gets started. We have a short list of projects we need to get done the bad weather pinned to the bookcase in the kitchen, and weatherizing the front steps was #1 on that list in my mind.

Yesterday I found out that the reason the paint was peeling so prematurely was on account of my having primed them before painting: apparently primer and paint combined make for a very poor walking surface. We learned that the proper first layer for horizontal surfaces is some latex paint thinned with water, so there is no differential flexibility of paint surfaces that causes peeling.

Lesson learned, and we got some more paint in the right colour to redo the work. But first, we had to remove the old paint.

This is how the steps looked when we started: all the peeling has been happening where foot traffic goes, obviously.

Noel spent some time scraping and then using the sander before he woke up and realized that the best tool for the job was really the heat gun. Once he got that out, the job went much faster.

We had a limited amount of time to work today, but in less than two hours, Noel stripped all the stair tops (the risers are and continue to be fine). We need to strip the porch surface, then sand everything, and then we'll be ready to do the next step.

Technorati Tags: painting

posted by ayse on 09/21/08