Staircase Sanding & Restoration in Manchester

Stair restoration takes a carpeted or painted staircase back to bare wood and refinishes it for looks and safety. It's like sanding a floor but with far more hand-work: treads, risers, nosings and the tread-to-riser corners all need detail sanding, and the whole flight has to stay usable, so it's often done in halves or alternate steps. Because stairs are high-wear and a slip risk, they take a tough, lower-sheen or anti-slip finish and extra coats on the treads.

These are the situations where Manchester homeowners most often get in touch:

• You've pulled the carpet off and want the treads on show
• Treads are stained at the edges and worn bare in the middle
• Old paint on treads, risers, spindles or the banister
• Stairs squeak, creak or a tread feels loose
• The existing finish is worn through on the tread nosings
• You want a runner with sanded bare-wood borders either side
• You want the stairs to match a sanded hallway floor

If any sound familiar, a free no-obligation survey will tell you exactly where you stand.

1. Remove the carpet, gripper rods, tacks and runner nails, and fill the gripper and tack holes with a stainable, colour-matched filler
2. Screw down and glue any squeaky or loose treads before finishing (sanding won't cure movement)
3. Machine-sand the flat tread and riser faces with a random orbital, not an aggressive belt sander
4. Hand-sand or scrape the nosings and the internal tread-to-riser corners, and the spindles and banister where included
5. Work up the grits to about P150-P180 (no finer, or the finish won't key), then apply a tough floor-grade finish
6. Build at least three coats on the treads, doing alternate steps so the stairs stay usable, and add a matt or anti-slip finish for grip

We work with trade-grade kit and finishes, not hire-shop machines:

• Random orbital and detail/corner sanders
• Floor-grade water-based lacquer or hardwax oil
• Osmo Anti-Slip Polyx / Bona anti-slip additive
• Stainable, colour-matched wood filler
• Discreet clear or wood-tone anti-slip nosings/inserts
• Chemical stripper and heat gun for painted flights

Many Manchester terraces have softwood pine or deal stairs that were painted or carpeted and never meant to be seen, with mixed-timber risers, knots and gaps, so results vary and a stripped period staircase is a big job. Where treads are good pine or hardwood they come up beautifully; where they're poor, a stair runner with sanded borders, traditionally fixed with brass rods, is often the smarter call.

Stairs are priced per step, not per m², because each tread, riser and nosing is fiddly hand-work: roughly £40-£100 per step in Greater Manchester (2026), with a basic flight around £500-£1,000+. Stripping old paint off treads, risers, spindles and banisters pushes it higher (a layered painted staircase can run a pro up to ~40 hours). Usually + VAT.

Every floor is different, so we quote each job from a survey. Request a free quote for an accurate figure.