When you buy a new house, there are certain things that you might feel like you want to change about it. You might want to extend a room. You might want to paint the outside or inside. You might even want to entirely change the house – gut it, take out everything in it and start a fresh.
Making a new house truly feel like a home is an incredibly important thing to do. If you can’t feel at home in somewhere that you’ve paid good money to buy and to make your own, then how can you truly feel at home anywhere? There are of course many questions that you might be thinking of when considering how to change your home.
You might be thinking – how do I repaint my walls? What’s the best way to change your carpets? How to change carpet stairs to wood?
All of these questions are ones that you need an answer to and this piece will aim to give you the answers you need.
Why Would You Want To Change Your Stair Carpets To Wood?
Firstly, let’s examine the crucial question – why would you want to get rid of your stair carpet and replace it with wood?
There are many reasons that you might want to get rid of your stair carpet and replace it with wood. Firstly, if the carpet came with the house and has been installed for years then it may look dated.
It might also have lost any vividness of color and be potentially stained from years of wear.
Equally, the carpet may not match the pattern or style that you wish to enact throughout your home. For example, if you want to make your house have a Scottish or tartan theme, if your stair carpet is a bright yellow then this will surely clash with the rest of the redecorating that you want to implement.
Changing your stair carpet can also enliven your home. It can give it a certain vibrancy to reveal the original wooden stairs that have been for years or even decades covered up by an ill-fitting carpet.
Original features are often highly desirable in homes which is why many homeowners might decide that it is better to get rid of their carpet and let the home’s past come through.
This can also prevent any bugs or mites from your pets potentially getting hold. Carpets are often a breeding ground for insects and mites which is why having as few fitted carpets as possible when you have pets is always best.
How To Change Carpet Stairs To Wood
Now that we’ve analysed why someone might want to change their stairs from having a carpet on it to now having a carpet on it, let’s address how we actually removed carpets from stairs.
Firstly, you need to make an assessment of the scale of the job. If there are only a few stairs then you need to remove carpet from then the process won’t take as long as if you have a very long staircase and thus have to remove a great deal of carpet.
Figuring out how long the job will take you has to be factored in as it would be dangerous to only do part of a job and have only part carpet or part wood on the stairs. They could cause you or someone else to slip so it is best to attempt to do the job in one go.
Once you have assessed the time it will take to do the job, you can begin. Firstly, you need to remove all the carpet from the stairs. Depending on how the carpet has been fitted this might be an easy job or it might be fairly difficult, particularly if the previous owners have pinned down the carpet.
Make sure to be careful as you remove the carpet as well because there might be dust or bugs in it which would fly out when the carpet is removed.
The carpet may be deceptive as well and have two layers – one, padding on top of the actual wood and then the second layer which would be the carpet itself. Make sure to not be surprised if you have to remove two layers before you get to the carpet.
Once you have removed the carpet, you can now turn your attention to the wood. Likelihood is that the staircase has been varnished before the carpet was put on, so removing the varnish is the next crucial step.
To do this you will need to get some varnish removed, a mask and gloves. The varnish remover’s purpose is obvious, but you need the mask and gloves as well to protect yourself from any fumes that may come up from removing the varnish.
Once you have begun the process, make sure to see it through to the end as you don’t want to do half a job.
After getting all the varnish of the stairs, check to see if there are any holes in the wood. There might be, simply due to the age of the stairs or the carpet may have protected the wood from woodlice and other insects that like to attack wood.
If there are holes make sure they are properly filled before going on to sand the stairs. Sanding the stairs is crucially important because it helps revive them. It brings out the inner essence of the wood and gives it a much more lived feeling.
Once you have sanded the stairs, you can begin the process of staining them. This is to give the wood an extra kick and make it look as if it was only felled yesterday rather than having been there for years and years.
The staining process again requires a mask and gloves in order to escape any fumes. It takes about 24 hours for the staining to properly dry so it might be worth booking yourself into a local motel for the night!
Once that is done the staircase is ready to paint any color your like or you can leave it in its wonderful natural beauty.
Why Having Wooden Stairs Can Be Good For You
Embracing the natural aspects of a house can be exactly what you need to feel truly alive. Houses, particularly old ones, thrive when they are allowed to embrace their true selves. By getting rid of rotten old carpets, you will be able to allow your house to truly be itself.
Making your house truly your own is an incredibly important thing which is why you must make sure that it feels exactly as you want it to. If that means getting rid of your old stair carpet, make sure to do it as soon as possible.