Hello I'm a diy-ER. I have refinished many pieces of furniture and we refinished our 60 year old floors in our former house BEFORE we moved in. I would like to finish my previously carpeted stairs in our new house. I will paint the pine risers and stain/poly the oak treds. My issue is this..we are a busy family of 7 and cannot avoid the stairs for an entire day, let alone week. My plan is to stain at night after the kids head to bed, allowing 8 hrs to dry. Prob will need to do this twice. And then I'd like to build up 3 coats of the fast dry floor poly over the course of another couple of days. Is this feasible. We honestly cannot completely avoid these stairs for longer than 8 hrs but I can limit traffic, no shoes or bare feet, just clean socks. Feedback? Advice? Is the minwax that I can buy at box store acceptable? Thanks so much!!

I have found that quick dry poly can take overnight to dry. The second coat will take longer than the first coat. When I need a fast drying sealer I use conversion varnish. Good ventilation, along with warm air makes a big difference. A fan will speed the curing, but should not be started until the surface is tack free. For when the stain is drying, and the next day, you should use clean, dry shoes or slippers instead of socks. Perspiration on socks can affect the surface.
Can you put a ladder up to an open window?

Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately a ladder to a window is not a good option because of my younger children. I would just have everyone camp downstairs but the showers are all on the top level. What about those disposable shoe covers that contractors wear into a house, maybe that's a good solution? I've never heard of conversion varnish? I will need to research it. This is def going to be a tricky one. I'd like to get some kind of protective coat on them. Even if I need to sand and redo the varnish at a later point. Thank you for the tips!

Are the treads already installed? If so, is it possible to remove them and do the finishing with them off the stairs? An option to finishing treads that are already installed is finish every other tread. But this may not be practical if your children are too small to step over every other tread.