There are discoveries still to be made in our Levitt homes. Several years ago when we moved from a Jubilee to a Clubber that was much in need of updating, my wife and I had a plan for each room of the house and we have been steadily working on that plan as time and budget allow. One area that we didn’t give much thought to were the stairs to the second floor covered in the same wall-to-wall carpeting that existed throughout the house. We removed much of this carpet from the floors to install tile and it soon became time to decide what to do about the stairs. Neighbors who had refinished their stairs were pleased with the results so we thought we would give it a try.

Removing the carpet and padding was pretty straight forward. I found it important to completely remove all of the gazillion staples that the carpet installers used because they would inevitably get in the way later. With the carpet removed, the original state of the stairs was exposed – completely painted in Levitt’s famous “speckled paint” as we came to know it.[1] This paint had to be removed to expose the natural wood beneath, but before doing so, some investigation was required.

It was common practice prior to 1978 for lead paint to be used in residential housing. Its use has since been banned. We know now that lead can be particularly harmful to children during early development and that exposure to lead can occur when lead paint is disturbed during renovation projects. Where lead paint exists, it’s important to take measures to prevent dust and paint chips from migrating around the house and settling into carpets, furniture and wall surfaces where exposure can occur. Because this is 1950’s housing that was built 25+ years before lead paint was banned, I tested the paint before deciding how to remove it. Using a test kit purchased from an area home store, the speckled paint on the stairs tested positive for lead.

With this in mind, I used a citrus based paint stripper that allowed me to remove the paint “wet” without creating dust or chips. It took a few passes with the stripper and a low tech scraper to remove all but a light film and a few stubborn spots. I then attacked the film and trouble spots with scrubbing pads and sand paper that were wetted with the citrus stripper. The film left behind by the stripper was removed by wiping with a wet towel (water only) and the stairs were allowed to completely dry before a final hand sanding. I wore a dust mask the entire time and the stairs were repeatedly vacuumed. All surrounding surfaces were wet wiped. Multiple coats of a low VOC[2], water based, satin floor finish were used to complete the project. The results are shown in the figure below. We are more than pleased with the results.

Finished Stairs

Kevin Deeny

[1] This paint product/process was known as Plextone which is still in use today. See Popular Science, “Ready Made City Will House 70,000”, Nov., 1952 for a description of Plextone used in Levittown PA.

[2] Volatile Organic Carbon (VOC) generally refers to the solvent content in a product that will evaporate and produce solvent fumes.