Staining a Small Pressure Treated Staircase in my Garage
I have a small staircase in my garage that leads into my house I build last year.
See Photo Below.
It is made of pressured treated lumber and I have let it ‘Season’ for about 6 months now, so hopefully it is dry enough to stain.
I want to stain it “gray’ to just not look like “bare wood”.
But when I went to the hardware store, the only stains they had for pressure treated lumber were in big 1 gallon buckets and were Stains and Sealer combined, and cost almost $80. Just seems like this would be a big “waste” of stain since I will only need probably a quart to stain the stairs.
But the hardware people said that the stains in the smaller containers (such as by Minwax) weren’t made for pressure treated wood and wouldn’t take to the wood, and then I would still need to apply some sort of ‘top coat’, which I would like to avoid.
Any suggestions for a stain I can get in a Quart Size Can that is a a Stain and Sealer combined, and would work on Pressure Treated Wood? If I need to get a gallon of exterior grade stain, I will, but just seems like a big waste for such a small job.
Thanks.
Michael
Replies
Have any scrap pieces left over to experiment on? You might be able to achieve a grey tone by simply using vinegar or a vinegar solution or vinegar that you took some rusty metal or steel wool ( better) and let it go black. Sunlight would speed up the process if that's possible. There are products out there that specifically are designed to age( make grey) the appearance of wood. I tried one once but for some strange reason, although they chemically had a product that would cause the wood to go grey, they also tinted it a very unpleasing grey. I guess so you didn't have to wait? It looked OK eventually.
If the vinegar works for you then you can topcoat it to seal the wood. Stairs take a pounding. I would use something like Bona Traffic or maybe a Deft made specifically for floors. Or....go see the floor guys and see what they recommend. Mostly I find that hardware people know lots about cash registers, can read the back of a can, but have no actual experience with any of the stuff they sell-- but act like they do. None of this stuff is cheap anymore ,by the way!
I reread your post and this is outdoors ( or is it ? )so scrap my recommendations for topcoats maybe .
Buy a small can of gray paint and thin it by 50%. Put it on the scraps from the stairs build to see how you like it. Garage stairs are going to take a beating so keep it simple... a foam brush or a rag will do the trick. You don't need an "outdoor product" for your indoor stairs.
After several years of trying to find a paint or stain that would hold up on my deck last year I applied a coat of Rustoleums Rock Solid solid stain. Part of the area includes our back stairs that go from the carport to the back door. This area gets lots of use and, so far, it has not shown any signs of wear, including the stair nosings. I got it along with the recommended primer at Lowes:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Rust-Oleum-RockSolid-Tintable-Tintable-Resurfacer-Actual-Net-Contents-116-fl-oz/1000437195
So far, I'm very pleased.