Stripping a painted staircase by hand is one of the least profitable jobs in joinery. The detail that makes it worth restoring is exactly what makes it slow.
Staircases are where laser ablation makes the most obvious commercial sense in joinery, because the cost of the conventional method is driven almost entirely by profiles and detail, and a non-contact beam is largely indifferent to shape.
Spindles, turned newel posts, moulded handrails, string capping and decorative brackets all resist abrasives. An orbital sander cannot follow a turning. Detail sanding is slow and rounds over crisp arrises. Chemical stripping works but brings dwell time, residue in the grain and a lot of mess in what is usually an occupied house.
The objective is not usually a finished surface straight off the laser. It is:
The saving sits in the first step. If hand-stripping a flight currently takes a week, and ablation takes the bulk of it off in a day with two days of finishing behind it, that is the business case, and it is one worth measuring on your own jobs rather than taking on trust.
This is often the deciding factor rather than speed. A dry, non-contact process with extraction produces a filter cartridge rather than sheeting, spent media, or solvent residue running down a hall. On a staircase in a house someone is living in, that difference decides whether the job is practical at all.
Applications
The parts of a staircase and joinery package that suit ablation.
Which machine
Joinery restoration is controlled removal on a variable natural substrate. That is the 300W brief.
Machine finance is available to UK businesses through an FCA-regulated broker. Limited companies can be funded on any machine; sole traders only above £25,000. Check whether you qualify → LaserStrip is not a lender. See also the Business Launch package.
Further reading
Standards and guidance
A pulsed fibre laser is a Class 4 device. These are the primary UK sources, linked so you can read them rather than take our word for it.
Common questions
The machines are mobile and run from a standard single-phase supply, so in-situ work is normal. You still need a controlled exclusion zone and extraction, because it is a Class 4 laser.
Common on pre-1970s joinery. The removed material is captured by extraction and filtration rather than becoming airborne dust, which many contractors prefer to sanding, but it remains lead-bearing waste and must be handled and disposed of accordingly.
It depends on the layers. Thin, dark, well-adhered coatings come off readily. A century of built-up oil paint may need enough passes that stripping the bulk another way and finishing with the laser is more economic. Testing tells you which situation you are in.
Application enquiry
Tell us what you are trying to remove and what is underneath it. We will tell you honestly whether a laser is the right tool, where it would sit in your existing process, and which machine would suit. If conventional preparation is the better answer for your job, we will say so.
We reply within one business day. Your details are never shared.