Do my stairs need more stain???

16 years ago

Not sure if you can tell from the pics, but do my stairs look like bootie?? We sanded the living heck out of them, but they're as good as they're going to get at this point. I ended up having to mix two colors of stain to get the color I wanted, but that's no big deal. I just wanted to see if I should do one more coat of stain.

Will the clear coat make it darker?? You can see the color of the flooring we'll be putting in and match. Here's what the stain looked like still wet.....

Now here's what it looks like dry... it's really pale and uneven. Will one more coat help with that or will the clear coat shine it up???

Thanks in advance for your help!! We've never done this before!!

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Comments (8)

igloochic
16 years ago
Yes another coat or two will really help that finish. Try one more and see how it evens out :)

ANd if you put the finish coat on it now...it will forever haunt you with it's paleness...much like my red head skin tone :oP
magothyrivergirl
16 years ago
Waterlox original is a product recommended to me (for finishing a bar) by bobsmyuncle on the woodworking forum. Look at the Waterlox website - it is used for floors as the final protective finish. I had to order it from my local Tru Value - I love this product. It has a slight amber tone to it. It is not a poly, so it is not suppose to yellow, or crack over time. Without question, that is what I would use on the stairs if they were mine; and your stairs are going to be nice - I wish they were mine!
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moonshadow
16 years ago
The gloss in poly will amp up the color somewhat, but not really give it depth, if that makes sense. Almost like how the stain appears when wet. You're pretty darn close to that flooring sample. If that's your match board, were it me I'd do one more light coat. Hold your sample board next to the wet stain, to guide you to what it will look like with poly. You'll achieve just a bit more depth with another coat, but not excessive. Once the initial two layers or so of stain soak into the wood, anything more won't reach much beyond what the pigments in the stain have to offer. (Kind of like paint: another coat of black doesn't make it darker black ;)

Another option: if one more coat doesn't cut it, you can alter your stain ratio, mix up another small batch and raise the amount of the darker color in the mix. If it was 50/50 before, do a batch with 60/40 or 70/30 with darker being higher content. Don't let it sit long or it's going to get deeper on you than you might want. (Test it on some similar wood if you've got some.) With the darker ratio, I'd wipe it on a tread and then almost immediately wipe it back off. So much easier to build stain color depth up than slap it all on and try to remove depth.
amykath
16 years ago
I think another one or two coats would help. We just did the same thing and believe me it helped a ton to add a couple more coats!

Amy
yayagal
16 years ago
Yes it does need more depth, go for it!!!
citymomof3
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks guys! Dh was disagreeing with me that we needed to do another coat. One more quick question - is there a gloss that won't be so slippery?? I don't want to pick the wrong thing and be falling down the stairs every day. LOL
moonshadow
16 years ago
These are the stairs DH and I did. Solid oak, we used Minwax oil-based poly in semi-gloss. (I didn't want a super high sheen.) They're not slippery in the least (in fact the carpeting was worse). Oil-based will "amber" over time (take on a golden hue), which didn't bother me because the oak has a golden hue in some of the grain. But if you don't want ambering, you might want to consider a water-based poly. You can see some of Minwax's line for flooring here.
DH and I have both used Old Masters products on projects, that's pretty good too. Just didn't use it on the steps. ;)
powermuffin
16 years ago
Moonshadow, those are some gorgeous steps!
Diane