Canton has staircases worth restoring and staircases worth reworking, and the two want opposite approaches.
- Period stairs
- Restore — the material is the value
- Builder-grade stairs
- Rework — treads, risers, rails
- Never touched
- Stringers and structure
In the older streets, a staircase is often the best piece of joinery in the house. Newel posts, turned balusters and handrails from that era were made from timber and to a standard that is expensive to reproduce now. Stripping one out to fit something current removes value permanently and it cannot be put back.
In the subdivisions the calculation reverses. Those staircases came from the same supplier as every other house on the street, and changing the treads, risers and balusters is how you stop the entrance hall looking like a builder chose it. Stained treads over painted risers is the usual request, and it is usually right.
Which one is yours
Turned balusters and a solid newel: restore
Square builder-grade spindles: rework freely
Carpet over the treads: check what is underneath first
Handrails can be refinished separately from treads
Structure stays untouched either way