Sanding, depending on how vigorous, will either scuff the sealing top-coats or remove them to bare wood. If the floor guy only sanded, there is a reason it looked dingy. Seems to me the flooring guy was responsible for properly fixing his damage; it sounds as if he did not. Can you post a picture so we can see what you have to work with? You will definitely have to re-stain and apply coats to seal/top-coat (varnish, poly, etc.). The question is whether you can just stain and then apply sealing coats to repair what you have sanded. Do you have any idea what was used to seal/ttop-coat after the flooring guy stained? Different product will age differently and have different sheens. If you cannot figure out the original products used (including the original manufactror and formula for the stain), I would sand every tread or at least the part that will be exposed (once away from the spindles, you should be able to use an electric finish sander), stain again, and put on uniform sealing top-coats of something like water-based flooring poly to all the treads. Researching the best products to refinish stairs will provide name brands for the final, protective finish coats. I do not think that something like Rejuvinate will work since you have probably taken off the stain and protective top-coats.

Will a runner of some type be used in the middle? As usual...success/durability depends on prep! >>> Check for lead-paint first!!!! >>> Check different layers too if any chipping is occuring. If OK, * Use a good detail sander, and get the surface evenly dulled with ~100 grit sandpaper. * Remove every molecule of dust... * If using a LIGHT color, get a top-notch LATEX Porch & Floor paint. Most of these DON'T need a primer. * If possible, check if a Factory-tinted color is available. ACE has 6 or 7 factory colors, plus the normal tint-bases. If ya gotta use the stairs every day, paint every-other tread/riser. * This way, your brush-strokes can go from side-to-side. * If you knew a runner would be used, just painting one complete half-side would work. * Let both topcoats harden-off somewhat for a day b4 walking on it in SOCKS. * This MAY have to be done on 2 diff. weekends?!? * Don't use SHOES for a WEEK. * Full cure is ~ ONE MONTH. Because of long cure-out/hardening times...DON'T put any kind of Poly on during that month. If you do Poly, use a good Water-base (stays clear), and apply ~4 coats. Water finishes typically dry thinner than Oils, therefore, only applying 2 coats of Water-finishes is a BARE MINIMUM to have any kind of wear-layer. Faron

Pesky, I think it's the paint too. Franksmom, The can says you can recoat in 4 hours. I was going to wait 24 but ended up waiting almost three days. It was still tacky but at that point I wasn't going to strip them (Tried to strip an old vanity once and didn't complete the project.) and figured it would eventually dry. It's drier now than it was the other month when I posted on here about them still being tacky. I think they'll eventually dry completely but that doesn't fix the marks. They don't sound tacky/sticky when you walk on them with shoes. I followed Paintguy's advice from the paint forum on this project. I used Zinsser's BIN shellac primer because the stairs are pine. Did all the proper cleaning and sanding,etc. I did ask on the paint forum about the paint being tacky and they said they'd contact SW because it sounds like a problem with the paint. When I talked to a guy in the store, he just said I'd have to repaint the scuffed treads and had nothing to say about them not being dry. Paintguy recommended Muralo paint for this and Paintergirl recommended BM floor paint. Wish I would've listening to one of their ideas and just bought the stupid paint sample and matched. I emailed SW last night so I'm curious to see what they say. Sounds like I'd need to strip everything (not going to happen) in order to fix it.

I like strong design usually, but man, that last pic? What do those people do, hop out of bed in the morning, run down the stairs, blow a whistle and yell "Offensive pass interference, the ball will be placed at the spot of the foul. Automatic, first down!"