I posted a while back about my living room floors that had that awful tar paper on it. The living room floors turned out beautiful, btw Couldn't have done it without the help off here.

We've now gotten around to doing all the hallways as well as our front entry stairs.

All the hallways are sanded and now I'm working on the stairs. They are 10' wide and are oak (I think). I'm at a loss as to what I should do with the risers, though. They have evidence of having been painted a dark colour at one time. Should I sand them, stain them, or repaint them? Help!

I'm not so sure those are oak. It is hard to tell. The treads are one piece so they could be a type of pine or fir. The grain patterns I have seen in all three woods. As far as the risers, painting is typically easiest. You could try chemical strippers. Many will remove stain as well as finish. It's time consuming though. Another way is to use a very sharp wood scraper and follow it up with sanding. That's what I've found is the fastest way to refinish risers. But it is a workout. Another option is to apply a thin veneer over the old risers. But that does take skill and most likely, would not match the existing tread wood very well either. So that would be my last choice.

Thanks Gary. I was just thinking oak because a hardwood guy we had come out for an estimate on the floors years ago thought the treads were. If they aren't, that's okay though The Douglas Fir in the living room and the rest of the house is gorgeous.

Thanks for the info on doing the risers. I started sanding the treads on Saturday, and let me tell ya, I'm sore! The wood is rock solid and the lowest grit we could find for the belt sander was 40grit! I couldn't imagine trying to do the risers as well. I might just do a light sand to knock the grain down a bit and paint.

Now... if I paint them, can I put some of the polyurethane we'll use on the treads over the paint to help protect it, or will it have to be left bare?

If painting the risers, I would use a solvent based primer that has some stain blocking abilities, like Kilz.
http://www.kilz.com/pages/default.aspx?NavID=23

Then lightly sand to smooth only and clean off dust. Then apply two coats of your favorite color in a FLAT wall paint. When dry, sand smooth if needed but not through the color. After that, one or two coats of a water-based polyurethane over the paint. It will adhere fine.

Sorry for the delay. Thanks Gary. We were also told we could use a tinted oil based enamel for the risers? What are your thoughts on that?

We havn't gotten around to doing the risers yet other than a light sand, but we got the finish put on the treads last weekend. They're not perfect, but that's alright.