Thread: steel stairs

how to repaint corroded steel stair treads

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One tread at a time...

Originally Posted by Garry Sorrells

One tread at a time...

Using a lot of "elbow grease" ...

Seriously, though, one first needs to define "corroded" as steel "rusts" and rusted steel, other than surface rust, weakens and reduces the strength of the steel ... and the amount of rust (loss of "steel") is the key as to whether the steel stairs need restoring or replacing.

If its surface rust use a angle grinder with wire brush wheel. Prime and repaint with paint specifically for metal.

Personally I like sand blasting and then spraying.

Originally Posted by Garry Sorrells

Personally I like sand blasting and then spraying.

I've read, over the years, that bead blasting is better with metal as it hardens the surface while abradding away the paint.

I've also heard of using ground nut shells - walnut, pecan and others.

Blasting gets into the crevices better than wire brushing but makes a much bigger mess (albeit it that blasting will be quicker).

When using a wire brush, use a cup brush with twisted wire - much more aggressive in removing paint and rust than a non twisted brush and the brush lasts longer too.

Use caution when using a twisted cup brush as those things will literally rip your arm open if the brush grabs a corner or edge and jumps back at you ... I have about a foot long scar down my arm from that when it happened to me back in the mid-1980s.

I'll spare you the details, but the doctor said another 15 minutes or so in getting to him and I would have died.

I use an angle grinder with abrasive disks. I've used several types and I like them better than wire wheels. Takes paint down to bare metal in no time. I recently cleaned the paint and quite a bit of corrosion of a cart used to hold oxy acetylene tanks. Worked quite well, but for larger surface areas bead blasting or some other type of blasting may be better.

Think about lead paint also.

I prefer "Cold Gal" or Cold Galvanized paint.