Worn or bare patches on stair treads

A pale path down the centre of each tread where the finish has gone, sharpest on the middle steps of the flight. Water beads on the edges of the tread but soaks into the middle.

What causes it

In rough order of likelihood. Each one has a tell — the observation that separates it from the others.

1. 1

   Ordinary traffic wearing through the finish

   How to tell: Even wear centred on each tread, worse on the flight everyone actually uses.

2. 2

   Grit acting as an abrasive

   How to tell: Fine scratching alongside the wear, usually where the stair is close to an entry.

3. 3

   The finish was never rated for stair traffic

   How to tell: Wear appearing within two or three years. A stair takes several times the punishment of a floor and needs a finish specified for it.

What it actually means

Once the finish is gone, the wood underneath is taking the wear directly, and it will grey and absorb dirt. Caught at the pale-path stage the fix is cheap. Left another two winters it becomes a full sand — or a retread.

Bare wood with no staining and no cupping can often be screened and recoated rather than fully sanded — a fraction of the cost and one day rather than several. That window closes once dirt gets into open grain or the wood greys.

• Put a mat at the entry nearest the stair. Grit is the main abrasive and this genuinely helps.
• Stop using anything wet on bare patches — the wood is unsealed there and will darken.
• Photograph it now and again in three months. Whether it is spreading determines screen-and-recoat versus a full sand.

• Scratches that show up white
• Dull worn paths through the middle of the room