NEWEL RENEWEL

To bring back a longneglected staircase, the owner resorted to gently stripping, cleaning, and refinishing the newel posts and balustrade.

- Gina Bellous

STRIPPING

Like the woodwork in the rest of the house, all parts of the staircase had been coated with layers of gloppy paint. What was worse, a previous owner had used a harsh wire brush on it, leaving deep grooves in the wood. I removed the remaining paint on the newel and balusters using a chemical stripper from Jasco. All parts of the staircase are being dismantled and stripped outside. I normally use the low-VOC stripper Smart Strip, but in this case the chemical stripper was better at getting into the details of the balusters.