How to Paint Stairs in Commercial Buildings

In order to revamp interiors of business reception areas, the stairs can be painted in commercial buildings. This increases brand appeal for clients and customers as well as freshening up entrances for employees at the beginning of each working day.

Proper preparation is the key to successfully painting stairs in a business interior. Follow these simple instructions and you shouldn’t go wrong. Alternatively, call in a professional company to electrostatically paint staircases.

1. Mask Off
Before undertaking a stair painting project adjacent areas must be protected from overspray. Drop cloths need to be spread on the floors, treads (the horizontal part of the stair that is stepped on) and risers (the vertical part) if they are not being re-coated. Skirting boards should be masked off with plastic or masking paper and the bottoms and tops of spindles (the vertical rods on a banister or balustrade) should be taped to achieve clean edges of paint.

2. Clean the Substrate
Remove grease and stubborn dirt from the stairs, so that the new coating sticks to the surface firmly. Even a top quality primer won’t adhere to a dirty substrate. Wash the surface of the handrail and spindles on balustrading with mineral spirits using a cloth.

3. Fill and Sand the Surface
Hammer in or remove any nails that are peaking above the surface then fill any dents or holes with filler making sure you follow the product instructions and leave it to completely dry out. Any gaps between the treads and risers can be sealed with caulk which is a waterproof sealant. Sanding will smooth over the surface and also remove any glossy coating to create a key which will enable the next layer to anchor on to it. Clean off any dust that has resulted from the sanding using a tack cloth.
This is a particular type of cloth designed to pick up dust and dirt particles from a surface without leaving any residue of the treatment used to make the cloth tacky.

4. Prime
A primer is a way of keying the surface to help anchor subsequent coats of paint to the staircase and an etch primer needs to be applied on to bare metal. However, many coatings such as most masonry paints and some products available for use on metalwork are designed for use without a primer. If any parts of the staircase have been primed, they need to be left to dry completely before the top coat is applied.

5. Spray-Apply the Coating
Staircases are the perfect area in a building to be experimental and innovative in terms of colour and design because people don’t spend a great deal of time there. As with the paint on any architectural features, the top coat can be chosen in a multitude of colours and paint spraying the coating will result in the smoothest type of finish. The final touch for durability is a coating of lacquer over handrails as these are subject to so much hand contact. Lacquer is available in various gloss levels resulting in different degrees of shine and is the icing on the cake regarding design.