Would you paint or stain these stairs?

Well as you can see from the pic, we finally have our dirt piles leveled out. We are just waiting on sprinklers to be installed, then the sod will go down a day or two later depending on the weather.

But our wood stairs are coming along nicely. They should be done tomorrow hopefully. So here is a pic from yesterday. Sorry there is so much stuff around it, but the question is to paint or stain the stairs and handrails, etc.


1. paint everything white. we will also be painting the underside of the 2nd floor deck white to brighten things up under there.

2. stain all the wood a light reddish color to bring out the reddish color in the border pavers.

Right now our house is a light gray, with dark gray roof. Pavers are light and dark gray with red border. BUT in the future we will do new siding and we want that new dark ocean blue I have seen. Gorgeous color. So then the house would be ocean blue with white accent and a dark gray roof. Now what do you think about the stairs. Decisions! (I guess we could stain now and if we didn't like it stained after we change the siding we can always paint the stairs white then right )

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

i would stain them

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

i like the idea of staining of them since it will bring out the red border- it will coordinate nicely!

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

Definitely stain! The previous owners of our house painted our deck and railings and now it looks horrible and in order to repaint it and look half decent we would have to sand down the wood a little bit to get the paint chips even. Our deck is very big so this would be a huge project. I'm all for staining and not painting outside wood

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

I'd go with stain - although I do like how it looks painted too. Stain is just easier to maintain like a PP said.

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

I would stain.

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

stain!

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

Stain

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

I think the paint would look gorgeous and bright but would probably stain it...painting is a maintenance nightmare and you can always decide to paint over the stain the future but not the other way around!

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

Stain :)

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

Stain it - I'm unsure how the paint would hold up and you don't want to be redoing it every 3 years...

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

stain

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

stain

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

I think I would stain them. I like the idea of white paint, but I think it would crack and get weathered way quicker than stain.

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

Outdoor stains come in different levels of transparancy, we use a stain that covers more like a paint on our deck.
we have to powerwash it & and restain about every three years.
I think the kind of stain I'm thinking of comes in white as well.

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

I love the look of painted stairs but you would have to mix sand with it on the steps because when its wet its slippery. it would also have to be re-done every year because it dries out from the sun and chips

Because of that I would just stain it. sometimes you have to scarfice a little with the look so you keep maintence at bay. its a lot of work to sand it down and paint it every year or every other year.

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

you are all right about the paint. I don't won't to repaint each year. Staining every 2-3 years is enough.

I will check out the stain that some of you recommended. That might be the best of both worlds to get white stain. Can't wait to see what that looks like. Thanks!

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

I am leaning twds stain but i would definitely do a test patch somewhere if you can, (or get a board of the same wood and do a test there) so you can see what each looks like. Hard to decide in the abstract, imo.

GL!

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

Posted by JldDolphin

you are all right about the paint. I don't won't to repaint each year. Staining every 2-3 years is enough.

I will check out the stain that some of you recommended. That might be the best of both worlds to get white stain. Can't wait to see what that looks like. Thanks!

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

See I'd paint. I think it would look fresher that way. Stain is nice, but I have to stain every year... Either way for you I'd totally paint, it will look so awesome !!!

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?

Posted by Jenn627

Posted by JldDolphin

you are all right about the paint. I don't won't to repaint each year. Staining every 2-3 years is enough.

I will check out the stain that some of you recommended. That might be the best of both worlds to get white stain. Can't wait to see what that looks like. Thanks!

We used the deck stain/paint on our front porch. We did the railings and spindle part white and the floor part gray/brown. I love the way it looks. Kinda like indoor stairs, you know? Where the treads are wood and the banister is white.

Re: Would you paint or stain these stairs?