I bought a 120 year old house and it has these iron(?) stairs and railings in the back. nothing special, and currently looks pretty ass. has been painted many times but it's coming off in some places, not in others. I want to decide whether to replace it or restore it.
some of the steps are bent but the home inspector said they weren't going anywhere. my idea was to take a wire brush on the end of a drill and try to get as much of the paint off as possible before priming and painting. the stairs are bolted to the frame so technically I could take it apart for more thorough cleaning/painting but it seems like a lot of work.
basically, what would you do?
Structurally it's probably going to be fine another 100 years with minimal maintenance, but it's never going to look good. Maybe as a compromise I'd replace the railings with something more modern and easy to paint/maintain, like a single thicker profile with wood insert (or plastic fake wood insert). Wire brush needs to go on a 1000W+ 125mm angle grinder if you actually want to do a decent job removing shit.
cable railing might be cool. definitely paint it all black.
This. Get rid of that crappy white lattice and put up cable or wrought iron railings. And once again to reiterate what anon above said, definitely paint it all black. If you do cable railing leave the cable silver of course...
Doesn't look like those steps are up to code anymore, too long and too steep
pressure wash it, evaluate it, maybe scrub it more. fix a few bolts, paint it with something that will last.
Well it definitely needs rust treatment and a fresh coat of paint, or you're just pissing away money letting a piece of your house rot to nothing.
Once the metal has been finished properly again, you could add wooden steps bolted on top of the metal. Pretty easy to fabricate and attach, just make sure they stand off slightly so it doesn't trap moisture. You could do likewise for the railings, wooden rail on top of or to the side of the existing metal rail. Basically, use it as a frame to attach better looking wooden furniture.
Or if you just want quick and easy - Refinish the metal with a good coat of paint, then add adhesive colored grip strips to the edge bar of each step.
Sandblast that shit then POR 15 or other serious paint so you don't have to repaint as often. Cheap paint ends up being very expensive.
this.
you'd be forever with a wire brush. POR like he said.
wire brush them with a 15$ harbor freight angle grinder and let them rust, paint will probably come off anyway
or cover them with wood or get some diamond plate from a metal supplier and sheet metal brake and cover them that way
or have them powder coated if you're dead set on these stairs
Why buy a 120 year old house of you dont like 120 year old house features?
that shitty lattice work isn't 120 years old. maybe it used to have a nice wrought iron banister that got kicked over 60 years ago and replaced with some scrap galvanized pipe. you could redo the railing with modern features while keeping it all consistent and matching.
The shitty lattice is attached to the original iron railing with zip ties
Blast it clean. Paint black. Black chain link fence attached where the lattice is. Maybe some complimentary color privacy slats depending on what the rest of the house looks like.
I would rip off that shitty white plastic stuff and replace it with some nice wooden planks of some sort. Then strip the paint, maybe with aircraft stripper, and treat the whole thing with Owatrol oil a few times
Don't replace it. You would be destroying its charm of a 120 years old house.
Pressure wash it and then paint with some paint containing zinc phosphate.
What I would do is probably this.
1 - Strip and repaint all the metal
2 - Replace the lattice with something that looks better
3 - Cover the treads with composite decking