# staining over ebony stain on steps with different color



## drewbabich (Aug 1, 2017)

hi. an exterior customer of mine asked me to stain her rough unfinished basement steps with some ebony miniwax ebony stain. I applied a coat of it without any conditioner (she didn't want to wait for conditioner because it's not a finished basement)

well after one coat of stain she doesn't love it.... I can see why. it looks just dark and dirty in black.

here are pictures.

she asked me if I could stain it again in a sedona red or anything else that might look good over top the single coat of blacl.

question is can I stain a different color right over top of what i have already done and get a more complex finished mix of black and sedonna red?


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## PRC (Aug 28, 2014)

There's always a chance that they may like the result and at this point you got nothing to lose by sampling it since you'll either be removing that stain or painting those stairs if it doesn't work. But more than likely the result will not be desirable. In the future, sample finishes first (especially stain) to avoid this situation.


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## Delta Painting (Apr 27, 2010)

That why we all use conditioner on soft wood so it has a even appearance. Stain will be as dark as you the color you start with and only gets darker with more applications. You can sand those all down start over or paint them...


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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

If it's a waterborne stain, how about trying a deck stain over it? Never done it personally but I can't think of any reason not to on that particular project...? Anybody got any thoughts on that? Maybe a semi trans or ?? Worst case scenario a solid body stain and you could clear coat it with minwax hybrid for added durability. I wouldn't try it if the original stain was an oil though....or at least run a sample first...

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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

Minwax........HA! Funny stuff.


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## PNW Painter (Sep 5, 2013)

It's already been mentioned, but this is a perfect example of why you need put a sample on a small area and get client approval before you proceed.

At this point maybe you can come up with a faux finish. No matter what you do it's gonna start getting expensive as your time starts adding up.


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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

PACman said:


> Minwax........HA! Funny stuff.


Yup, I love that product.

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## Jmayspaint (Mar 26, 2013)

Look into Sikkens DEK. That's what I would try


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

lilpaintchic said:


> Yup, I love that product.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


It's easy to work with and you can use multiple coats. That's about it, though for most people that is what they are looking for. If you want something stained a real dark color you need to pile that stuff on though. Depending on the wood of course. But i can honestly say since i have never sold Behr that at least 80% of the product complaints i have had in thirty+ years have been a Thompson's/Minwax product. But it works fine for people that know what they are doing.


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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

Jmayspaint said:


> Look into Sikkens DEK. That's what I would try
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


My only concern is the off gassing on an interior basement situation....that might get pretty bad.....and stick around forever. How about this one? http://www.perfectwoodstains.com/view-product/cetol-srd-semi-transparent

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