I bought a 300,000 home and the upstairs carpet is trashed. The must have had it cleaned for the showing beacause in no time pet smells are now enough to knock you over. My 10 year old daughter and my allergy’s are at their worst.
I have been breaking my back pulling carpet up, nails, staples, tack strip. Plywood is in the 3 bedrooms and hallway.The plywood is not in bad shape, just plywood. The steps are 7×1 and 4×1(rough estimate) on the tread(step) and there is chipboard( think that is what it is called) on the riser, (think that is what it is called-space between steps) I want to install hardwoods when the budget allows as I think that would increase the value of the home…am I right about that? But for now is there something I can do so we can live splinter free and smell free. Also, since we are kinda girly-girls something that looked cute too would be a big bonus for us. Thank you so much and PLEASE HELP!!!! 
Have a great day !!
anything to help a damsel in distress xx. Right what you can do for now is get a stain that is matt finish for the stairs. You then get some fine sandpaper and sand all the surfaces you want to paint. The chipboard is a little harder but I will get to that. The plywood surfaces you can use the stain on that to give it a decent colour most plywood is very red so you may want to get something which is a little darker like medium oak but not as dark as dark oak that is nearly black. once the plywood is stained you can use a matt varnish on it but make sure you dont use a gloss varnish as this will make the stairs very slippy. The varnish will protect the finish for a while. The Chipboard is another story, no point in trying tio stain or varnish that it will always look bad. What you need on that is a layer of sealant and you can use the varnish if you want it works all you are doing is getting a surface to paint on. Then you need to get a paint which will match your steps colour and paint the riser that colour. Its not ideal but it will make it look a little better until you get your new staircase. I just hope that the pets smells dont come back after alll your hard work as the only thing left is to lift all the floors and replace them. there are some products on the market specifically for this, go to a builders merchants and ask. Hope this helps
March 10th, 2010 at 9:50 am
marine paint will be your best bet cuz its tougher and will wear better. work with your local paint store to get the color you want cuz you may be limited on color options with this type of paint.
if applied correctly it will look like a painted concrete floor.
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March 10th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Hardwood will definitely increase the value of the home.
You can try painting the plywood, but be sure to apply several coats of polyurethane also to help protect it from moisture.
If you are not satisfied with this approach (and I doubt you will be), some relatively cheap alternatives are laminate that looks like hardwood, and cheaper still, carpet tiles. Or if hardwood is five or so years in the future, you can re-carpet the area with some cheap carpet that will look good for a little while.
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My own experience!
March 10th, 2010 at 10:29 am
anything to help a damsel in distress xx. Right what you can do for now is get a stain that is matt finish for the stairs. You then get some fine sandpaper and sand all the surfaces you want to paint. The chipboard is a little harder but I will get to that. The plywood surfaces you can use the stain on that to give it a decent colour most plywood is very red so you may want to get something which is a little darker like medium oak but not as dark as dark oak that is nearly black. once the plywood is stained you can use a matt varnish on it but make sure you dont use a gloss varnish as this will make the stairs very slippy. The varnish will protect the finish for a while. The Chipboard is another story, no point in trying tio stain or varnish that it will always look bad. What you need on that is a layer of sealant and you can use the varnish if you want it works all you are doing is getting a surface to paint on. Then you need to get a paint which will match your steps colour and paint the riser that colour. Its not ideal but it will make it look a little better until you get your new staircase. I just hope that the pets smells dont come back after alll your hard work as the only thing left is to lift all the floors and replace them. there are some products on the market specifically for this, go to a builders merchants and ask. Hope this helps
References :