I just tore the rug off of my stairway ..... and the stairs either needs to be

[burlingtony]

painted or refinished. Is there an easy way to refinish the treads and make em natural .... is there a preferred paint to use on the steps ?

[pcbeachrat]

The first answer is not a correct answer..To restain you have to first "strip" the old finish off..not just sand it and restain..stain will not penetrate the old finish..it will simply lay on top of it and be blotchy, plus will not dry for 3 days..then it will..more than likely peel after a couple months use(if not sooner) stain is a penetrative material and needs to soak into the grain to adhere properly, so the old finish must be stripped to allow this..and stripping is a hard messy project to do...To paint You need to sand it down then dust off..apply an oil based primer to seal the old stuff out..then finish it with porch and deck enamel..preferably a water based polyurethane deck enamel..do not buy the cheap floor enamel/epoxy at home depot,lowes etc..go to a regular paint store and get the good stuff..Sherwin Williams has a good product line here for this but not cheap..the stairway doing the treads only will take a gallon or less ...

[tonythutiger]

Your first answer was good but remember painting, staining, sealing etc... is going to make your steps slick and dangerous, in my exp...if you have kids...go back with some new carpet..its safer, warmer and less noise.