I was delighted to find pristine risers and something like mdf for the treads. I went to work removing the carpet, padding and tacks.

 

Ripping this stuff out was fast and fun.  The picture above shows how discolored the carpet was. The treads had deteriorated, and much of the padding had torn to shreds. That could have been from when we moved the elliptical downstairs, but that’s another story. 

It did not take long before I was looking at unfinished wooden stairs. And a lot of trash. Taking out all the little carpet tacks and staples was a bit tedious. Some areas looked like a staple gun testing site. I used a standard office sized stapler remover, pliers, or a hammer to get them out.

I puttied the holes and swept up the little carpet shreds, feeling very satisfied with the progress I made in one afternoon. Little did I know that I would still be working on this project six months later.

Onto Part 2: first coat and cat-astrophe.