Ideas on finishing Stair edge...

[Tom Picciani]

I would recommend cutting all the pieces in advance and numbering the stairs, risers and tread (the treads and risers on the unseen side. Then stain and finish before installing. You can’t stain after installing or the stain will get on the baseboard

 

[Mark Brown]

So while I would not argue it would not be beneficial to stain the stairs while they are uninstalled I would have to argue as to the logic. Stairs are stained and finished in place all the time, almost every set of raw wood stairs I have ever installed to be clear. This is done to hide any imperfections in them from construction and securing. When the time comes it is paramount to take precautions not to stain the surrounding skirting or walls. If I was installing prefabbed stair treads, I would also stain them off the stairs but not for the reason you list.

 

[Tom Picciani]

OK. But stain is not paint. And white paint shows every defect. If he gets stain on anything white, it will have to be repainted. Even tape might not keep it out because it is usually so thin. Easier to cut the wood to size, number it, and finish it off the stairs. The other question is if the room at the bottom has another exit. You paint from top to bottom. If there's no other way out, how are you going to get out of the lower room without ruining the finish?

 

[Mark Brown]

like I said, I do not disagree with your conclusion. Just your reasoning. Those are all good reasons to do it before hand and then install them.

 

[Tom Picciani]

Yea, depends on the situation. For me, my upstairs is accessible by the finished stairs or by the deck stairs. But using the deck stain meant walking around the house. And the work took over
A week to get them ready. I didn’t want to lose the access. But it depends on the situation.

 

[Mark Brown]

Finishing should always be the last step in the process, it is in the name. That does not mean that when the opportunity presents itself it may not be beneficial to do it at another stage such as in this instance. With a prefabricated stair tread, there would be little need to ever finish them in place and I would entirely agree with your assessment that it should be undertaken beforehand. It is definitely easier to do.

 

[Tom Picciani]

Btw, I looked at the finished stair treads at lumber liquidators. Didn’t look too bad but it doubled the cost. 14 stairs at $50 each. $700. Finished it costs $1400.

 

[Csason]

Ive had a few that had outside corners and I just had to cut the tongue and groove off and turn the planks into workable “wood” sometimes it works out so far I’ve been lucky when dealing outside of a closed staircase