apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Gluing solid wood to metal is a bad idea. Wood expands and contracts from temperature changes. This will weaken the glue joint. Use engineered (basically ply) wood flooring. It is a lot more stable.

I would just cover the treads in flooring and use black metal paint for the exposed parts.

Hey Eric,

As much as I like the look of the reclaimed wood, I'd suggest maybe doing something more clean and finished to contrast those great brick walls. Maybe skin the underside with a finish grade plywood. You could also use OSB (chip board) or sheet metal. Leave the stringers exposed on the edge. Paint those black or charcoal using a rust stopper first. Patch and repair the underside of the treads and risers as needed because it won't be seen.

On the top side consider maybe concrete treads(?) or just match them to the wood landings. You could repaint the risers or leave them rusty looking. I suppose my question would be how damaged are these?

That's my input. Good luck.

Wire brush (wear a mask and googles) to remove rust flakes. Then paint.

I agree with the wire brush and paint. Having painted similar metal I would suggest using oil paint. You will have to really ventilate the place and it will take longer to dry but it will stick and look better.

Scrub everything really, really well... then use rust converter (google search that). It will stop the stairs from rusting any further, and will also act as a primer. No matter what you decide to do, you should do this first to make sure it all stays in good condition.

I live in an old apartment building from 1929. It has iron bannisters and a steel staircase. The tops of the stairs are marble - not tacky - really tasteful. The underneath and side pieces going up used to be done in a faux dark brown wood until my new landlord decided to repaint in plain brown. I suggest you try that. It really made me happy to see the "grain" everyday on my way upstairs.

I agree about metal brush, clean, clean, clean, and then use rust converter to seal that all up.

And... how cool could this be!?... are the stairs magnetic? If you had it all stabilized, you could have an amazing, changing art gallery, with images you love that change with the seasons or your moods. Or glue strong magnets to the backs of cool things you collect (Tonka trucks, Pez dispensers, baseballs, Loteria cards, yo yos, marbles, baseball cards, comic books, Hot Wheels cars, Scrabble tiles... whatever floats your boat) and then stick them on.

eBay is a great place for getting tons of things quickly. Just type in "Pez" and "lot" for example, and you'll find hundreds of Pez at once.

I'm jealous of the potential there. Maybe I'll do my stair treads in magnetic primer. :)

In the process of sorting this out on a commercial project right now. Take care of all the rust flaking off, use a rust inhibiting primer for the metal structure- then a Scuffmaster type finish for metal (there is a low VOC version out as well). Please note- DO NOT glue down any kind of wood. Use mechanical fastners for wood/plywood treads with a little gap for movement. If you need to glue down - go with a solid surface material like a stone/terrazzo etc

I agree w/ the others - Putting wood over steel is ridiculous.

Power wash the entire staircase, allow to dry, then spray a protective clear lacquer that will permit the steel to show through - For the treads, just add some silica to the clear lacquer before applying with a roller to provide a course surface for traction.

What an amazing place. I really think you should try to preserve and highlight the industrial quality of the stairs. If you attack the underside with a wire brush you should be left with a fairly flake-free but rough surface you can paint a semi-matt colour. For some reason a really strong sky blue comes to mind, but I would be afraid it might detract from the fabulous blue sky at the top - assuming it is blue a lot ;)

i don't know how feasible this is, but i'd use a high gloss white...after properly prepping the metal of course. even if there are "flaws" in the metal, a high gloss would be so cool against the matte, aged white brick and it would really keep with the whole "bright and sunny" look of your stairwell...a feature that isn't so common in stairwells to begin with. g'luck.

that's almost too fracking cool to cover up eh?! Please show us the after, after you've saved it :)

Clean and seal! And light from the wall with tiny sconces!

I love the contrast of the metal stairs with the brick. It simply feels so urban that it's comfortable. I wouldn't try to cover up it's simple and unpretentious charm.

I would clean the rust off, seal it, and keep the natural look of the weld joints. Instead of priming and painting, I would accentuate. Find low profile, low wattage LED lights and daisy chain them on a wire together. The light would look great where you can't see the source. I wouldn't go with the bare LED lights. Instead, I would gel them with a warmer color temperature. (like in stage lighting or photography). Maybe something like tungsten gels. So it would look like you have small tungsten lights on either side of each step, but you would use so much less energy and space. Also it would be a lot easier.

Gels can be found at any photography store like bhphoto.com

Just do a search on something like "CTO gel." They're sold in sheets.

Oh yes, and attach magnets to the back for ease of installation and there's absolutely no damage to your staircase.