How to Stain Wood Stairs Treads without Sanding

Learn how to stain wood stairs in just a few easy steps. Staining wood stair treads is a simple DIY project, let me show you!

Have I ever mentioned that we have a “back house?” It’s a completely separate home with a full kitchen, two bathrooms and a bedroom upstairs. We’ve had a friend living there who recently moved out. Needless to say the carpet that was on the stairs and bedroom floor had to go! We hired someone to lay the stairs but I decided I would stain the stair treads.

Have you ever stained or painted stair treads after they’d been installed? It’s not as ideal as refinishing them before installation but the way the schedule worked out with the installers, I did not have time to stain them before.

Bummer, but I could work around it.

Let me show you what the stairs looked like after installation.

For those that are wondering that is painted tile at the bottom of the stairs. I wrote a instructional post with a video on how to successfully paint outdated tile with Rust-Oleum Home Floor coating.

You’ve also probably noticed that there are a handful of different floors in a very tight area. I’ve got the painted tile floor, Oak wood treads and the luxury vinyl at the top of the stairs.

Because of this, I needed to pick a color that would blend all three or go with all three surface colors.

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When picking a stain color, make sure to choose one that blends or compliments the other floors colors. It’s virtually impossible to match a stain color to another floor unless it’s the same type of material.

Best Stain for Wood Stairs

When choosing a stain product, you want one that will ensure durability and have anti-slip capabilities.

Penetrating Stains

Pros:

• Does a good job of penetrating the pores of the wood to prevent wear and tear to the stain color
• Enhances the natural look of the wood and highlights the wood grain
• long lasting
• Quick drying

Cons:

• Darkens the wood with every application
• Wood will have to be sanded to remove stain

Examples:

Varathane Wood Stains

Minwax Penetrating Stain

General Finishes Penetrating Wood Stains

Stain mixed with an anti skid additive

If you want to use a stain that sits on top of the surface, like a gel stain, but want more skid resistance, mixing an anti skid additive, like Homax, will help.

Pros:

• Does a good job at preventing slips on the stairs
• Allows more variety when choosing a stain

Cons:

• Steps can feel “gritty”
• Takes away from a smooth finish

I know this post is about wood stains for stairs, but I have to mention that you could even use a wood dye followed by a good sealer.

Can you use a stain plus sealer in one for stairs?

This is more of a personal preference, but I would not recommend it. If you are looking for a long lasting stain and sealer finish, use a stain first and then a good sealer on top.

I discussed this more in depth on my post about sealers for wood stairs. Even Minwax clearly states NOT to use their Polyshades line (stain plus sealer) on stairs.

That being said, Minwax has a product called 1 Step Floor Finish where you can choose a handful of colors already mixed in with the sealer.

Best Sealer for stained wood stairs

The age old debate has always been; Oil based vs. Water based sealer? Water based sealers have come a long way in durability. Most of them actually perform if not as well, almost as well as what an oil based sealer does.

As a matter of fact, there are sealers made specifically today for floors.

That being said I’ve used a regular old polyurethane sealer for our step down to our sunken living room and we’ve been using it daily for 3 years and it looks the same as it did the day I stained and sealed it.

Before you choose a sealer for your stairs, you need to make sure it’s compatible with the stain you used. Normally the directions will tell you what type of sealer needs to be used with the stain product.

I outlined in depth on this post about oil based vs water based and how to choose the right sealer for it.

Sealers for Wood Stairs

Here are a few examples of good sealers made specifically for wood stair treads.

• Varathane floor finish in oil based and water based.
• Minwax Polyurethane for floors
• Minwax Ultimate Floor Finish

For my wood stair project, I chose to use a mix of Varathane’s oil based in the color Weathered Gray and Varathane in the color Kona. I then used an oil based Polyurethane sealer in semi-gloss for the top coat. I applied one coat of the stain and two coats of the sealer.

Should I have used a dedicated floor sealer instead of a regular old polyurethane sealer?

I wanted to stick with an oil based product due to durability because I read a few reviews that said that the water based floor finish just doesn’t hold up like the old oil based sealers (even NON floor sealers) do. The other thing….Varathane’s oil based floor finish is very potent and very strong. As someone who suffers migraines, I really detest the lingering (like days on days) smell of VOCs.

Hindsight, what I should have done is finish the floor treads BEFORE installation. If I had done this, I would have used the same Varathane stains WITH Varathane floor finish in an oil based product.

Stained oak wood stair treads

I love how the stair treads look now.

I hope you’ve learned some good tips on how to stain wood and seal stair treads WITHOUT sanding! Yay for not sanding.