Finished Staircase with hundreds of staples.

6 years ago

I removed a carpet runner from a finished staircase. I have removed all of the glue, and there are hundreds of staples that I can't remove. They are flush with the wood and do not want to dig into the wood. I have tried to remove them with needle nose, diagonal pliers, small pry hand tool and a staple removal tool. Way too flush and deep. Can I wood fill over them and stain over them?

THANKS!

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Comments (7)

kudzu9
6 years ago
Can you post a picture? In any case, trying to do wood filler over this will not provide a satisfactory solution as the wood filler is not likely to stay in place.
Brandon M
Original Author
6 years ago
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kudzu9
6 years ago
Why are the staples flush with the surface if they were holding down carpet? I'm surprised that there isn't some gap. If they are truly flush, I know of no way to remove them without damaging the wood further. If any of them are sticking up just a bit, you may be able to pull them out with a ViseGrip tool. The technique is to clamp the jaws onto the staple as tightly as possible, slip the tip of a wood shim next to the tip of the jaws, and then leverage the staple out by rolling the jaws onto the protective shim. A ViseGrip is rounded at the end and this rolling action helps you do a controlled application of force. If you try to use the ViseGrip to pull the staple straight out by brute force without doing this leveraging, you have much less control and the tool is likely to slip off the staple or even snap part of it off (leaving sharp ends sticking up). For those staples you can't get out, the only thing I can think of is to get a nail punch and drive them in further so that there will be a hole that wood filler will adhere to. Good luck with this.
Brandon M
Original Author
6 years ago
Yeah for whatever reason maybe do to the carpet age when I ripped it up 90% were still flush. I tried the visegrip as well these staples are 1’’ too hahaha. probably going to nail punch if not I’ll retread and stain. Thanks for your insight on this
kudzu9
6 years ago
That’s unfortunate. I wonder if some of those staples were from a previous runner that got removed and they got nailed down before the runner you removed was installed.
toxcrusadr
6 years ago
How do you even drive a 1" staple into oak? And more to the point, WHY did they even think they needed such long ones, and so many. Argh.
PRO
Johnson Flooring Co Inc
6 years ago
if they're flush you can't fill over them and it might be difficult to set so many without making it worse. I suggest getting a couple Mohawk markers and coloring the heads in between coat of urethane. The trick is finding the right one, unless someone carries them locally.

https://www.mohawkproducts.com/Mowhawk-Pro-Mark-Single-Markers-p/m267.htm