Have you discovered existing wood floors that need some TLC? Or are those wood floors on the orange side and out of date? I have both of these scenarios in my home and I want to share how I Gel stain over existing stained wood steps.
I have been slowly working on my attic stairway area and now I can finally say that the stairway steps and landing areas are complete.
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We had stripped all the wall paper off the walls(what a job that was) and next was to pull up the carpet. I was planning on replacing the carpet until I discovered what was under the carpet. I felt like Nicole Curtis when I pulled back the carpet and found original hard wood floors. My family came up and asked what all the screaming was about. I was surprised as this area leads up to an attic and just figured they would be regular wood.
So plan B – remove the carpet and tacks and keep the hardwood floors. My helper, Mr. Mack helping his mama remove the carpet staples. It appeared that from the staple holes that this was the only carpet that was ever down, we were lucky not to have that many holes or staples to remove.
After looking at the original hardwood floors for a few days, I decided they were too orange and I needed to tone down the color. I decided I wanted to use the Gel stain and not have to sand down to the original wood. The gel stain allows you to do some light prep and stain right over the existing stained wood.
I used my Ryobi Corner Cat finishing sander on the stairs and the landings and did a light sanding. I like to wrap sand paper around my putty knife to get the edges and crevices.
I had a lot of areas that had paint splatter so I had to make sure all the paint was removed in those areas.
The great thing about using a gel stain is it will sit on a vertical surface without dripping. We stained the doors hanging, this made it much easier as we could finish both sides without having to wait for the opposite side to dry. You need to work in small areas. Apply the gel stain, wait about 10 minutes and wipe to remove the extra stain. If you wait too long, it is harder to wipe off. NOTE: I used Minwax Gel Stain in Walnut
For the floors I applied the stain in staggered areas, that way I would not have a straight line going across the boards, it blended easier with the other areas. If you are able to do the entire length of a few boards, I would recommend applying in that way. My area was an odd shape that leads to the stairs, so I had to do in small sections, like above.
For the steps, I applied gel stain on the step as well as the riser, and applied it to the second step and went back to the first area and wiped off. I had a great rhythm going for each step. You can see how much darker the upper floor is compared to the steps. The Walnut color removed some of the orange tones and darkened the hardwood.
After a few days of drying, I applied 2 coats of the Wipe-On poly 
to the rails, doors, and trim. I used the polyurethane floors
for the floors since it will hold up better for the higher traffic area. Tip: This area is used by my boys so I asked them to make sure they had socks on when walking on the floors until I had the floors sealed.
You can see by the before and after that, the wood tone has less of the orange tone and has a dark over tone. I love how they look so aged and worn which adds to the character of the original hardwood floors. My next project in this area is to paint the walls, build a plank ceiling and wall and to make a custom carpet runner for the steps and landings. I will share each project with you as I finish those projects.
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Great post. I’m just wondering how much sanding you did to start with. I have gone through this process…no sanding. And put a seal over it. However, the gel stain has scratched right off and it’s a total mess. Can you help!? Thanks!!
Hi Allison, I lightly hand sanded the floors before applying the gel stain. What type of sealer did you use and what condition where the floors before applying the stain. Were the floors shiny or were they dull? If they were shiny, that indicates that your floors have a good sealer on them and the sealer is not worn away and that would need to be removed before you applied the stain. My floors were very dull and I had no problems with a light sanding.
Hardly see a difference
Hi Susie, sometimes it is hard to get the color difference in the photos. The gel stain did deepen the stain a shade or 2 and made it a bit richer in tone.
Did you have to sand the floor to get any varnish off before putting on the gel?
Rebecca, I lightly hand sanded the floor and cleaned before applying the gel stain. My floors are old and most of the varnish was already worn away. If you have shiny floors, it may take more than hand sanding.
How did the gel stain do covering up left over paint that couldn’t be removed. I have been working on stripping paint off a old door and unfortunately can not remove all the pigment. Looking at different stain options before I throw in the towel and paint.
Jess, If it is large amounts of paint, it will not cover. If it is left in the wood grain in small streaks, you will still be able to stain. You will still see some of those paint filled wood grain streaks when looking at it closely. The darker the stain, the more apparent the paint streaks will be.
How has the GF gel stain on the stairs held up? Im considering this for my 15 year old red oak floors that only have an oil based clear coat. Very yellowed.
She used Minwax gel, not General Finishes (GF). I would have done a 2nd coat for richness. She hold up pretty well.