How To Paint A Steel Staircase

A fresh coat of paint can give new life to your steel staircase. Fortunately, steel is an easy metal to paint, whether it's bare or it has been painted before.

Sand

If there is paint already on the material, sand it all away. Use sandpaper with about 80 grit to remove the paint. Use finer sandpaper—about 200 grit—to remove any scratches. For a smooth, fine finish, follow with 400 grit paper.

Clean and Prime

Clean the metal and make sure it's dry. The difference between painting a steel staircase and a wooden staircase is that wood soaks in primer. The surface of smooth metal, on the other hand, doesn't leave much for primer to grip.

You'll need to a substance called etch primer for your steel staircase. Use this in a light coat over the metal, and then use a couple of coats of a high build primer. This will stick to the etch primer and provide you a good solid surface for painting.

Wet Sand

Once the primer is dry, use wet sandpaper to smooth the dry primer. Wet some 600 grit sandpaper and rub gently enough to avoid removing too much of the primer. The goal is to smooth the primed surface, not to remove the primer.

Next, wet a finer sandpaper, about 800 grit, and rub it on the primed surface to finish smoothing it out. Paint the surface with 2 to 3 coats of high gloss enamel paint, allowing the paint to grow tacky between coats.

Finally, you can add a coat of polish or sealant. This will give your steel staircase the best possible finish.