HELP. We just finished building our dream house and we decided to put in maple stairs and hand rails. Due to limitations we could not order them pre-finished. So we asked our hardwood installer if he could stain the stairs, he said sure. He spent 3 days sanding the stairs then applied a water based stain which was a disaster. It looked like my stairs had the mumps...... REALLY BLOTCHY. I made him resand the treads and didnt pay him.

Needless to say I did not allow him to put the finish on the stairs and have spent a lot of time re-sanding and re-prepping the stairs for stain.

I dont want the stairs to be dark, just a bit darker than a clearcoat. I have tried samples of the wood using a "wood conditioner" and am playing with some transtint to get the color right, but still have some blotchiness.

I have read in places that if I rub in the first coat of poly to fill the pores then i can put a GLAZE layer on using the dyes and get a very consistant coverage. Has anyone tried this or attempted this.. I have a LOT of stairs and really dont want to screw this up.

HELP..

Maple is a difficult wood to stain evenly, as you have seen. I suggest testing different methods a some scrap maple. One method I have used before was to tint the first sealer coat with a little stain and paint the finish on evenly. This will work for just adding a little more color than a clear natural will give you. I use a oil-based polyurethane and just a little oil-basedstain to it, mix it well and apply evenly. Another approach is to use a conditioner first, then stain. I haven't used "glazes" per se. Another approach when staining woods that tend to be "blotchy" is to use a lacquer based spraying stain. You'll need to have a spray rig though. The idea is to spray very fine light coats without wiping off the excess, allowing the stain to dry as you spray it on. This is basically "painting" the wood with a transparent stain. I have done pine, cherry and maple this way and got very even stain results.

where can i get lacquer spraying stains.. I have a couple hvlp guns... and lots of tape...

Bill

Professional paint stores should carry them. Here in N. CA, Kelly-Moore and Sherwin Williams both carry them.