carpeted stairs - two tone finish

[Barge]

G'day,

I've just had a centre run carpet pulled up and the treads lightly sanded and lacquered with "1045". Some treads are uniform (ie, same colour/darkness across) but some are darker in the middle, some lighter in the middle. The tradesman assures me this will blend as the PU reacts with UV and will be unnoticeable in 12 months. Is this the case and should I get a written guarantee that this is the case? I don't want to spend $700 and be left with a dodgy finish where I could've spent $900 (if i had been better informed) and gotten the final result I was after.

Cheers
Barge

[timdavis@activ8]

G'day Barge,
I sand and polish floors for a living and sometimes staicases too (unless I can possibly avoid it). Often when a length of timber, either floorboard or stair tread is partially covered by carpet or vinyl a two tone effect results when covering is removed. Timber "ages" differently between the covered and the exposed section, UV is the culprit. It is virtualy impossible to sand out and even the toning. However, given time your now fully exposed tread will even out. Also, I assume by 1045 you mean Polycure polyurethane. This product will also "yellow" off in colour (more so turn a honey shading) further evening out the tread. The tradesman is not pulling your leg,
this is the truth.
ps $700 is a very good price for a job like yours. I won't consider a staircase for less than $2000.

[Ronald200]

G'day Barge,
I sand and polish floors for a living and sometimes staicases too (unless I can possibly avoid it). Often when a length of timber, either floorboard or stair tread is partially covered by carpet or vinyl a two tone effect results when covering is removed. Timber "ages" differently between the covered and the exposed section, UV is the culprit. It is virtualy impossible to sand out and even the toning. However, given time your now fully exposed tread will even out. Also, I assume by 1045 you mean Polycure polyurethane. This product will also "yellow" off in colour (more so turn a honey shading) further evening out the tread. The tradesman is not pulling your leg,
this is the truth.
ps $700 is a very good price for a job like yours. I won't consider a staircase for less than $2000.

You're absolutely right. We saw this with our recent renovation.

But if worst comes to worst, you can always replace with something exact if it can be found or similar and then have those stained to match. Not sure what the cost versus the original solution is though since I don't know the extent of the damage, so to speak.