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The top stairs, to the attic, cleaned up fairly nicely. It looks like before the grey carpet the stairs had those half round tiles on it. I got 99.9% of the glue of those off (beneath it was paint). However, for the grey carpet they used tape for the bigger surfaces of the risers and the top of the treads. But they used a nasty glue on the bottom of the overhang of the tread and a strip at the top of the riser. That was impossible to remove with with cleaning solutions and scrapers.
The bottom stairs is a different story. It seems like it's had various carpets over time and there are several layers of glue which couldn't be removed with the tools we had. There were still some staples left from a previous carpet. My sister did her best, but it's still a bit tacky.
My sister wanted to get chemicals to remove the glue and a good sander. But I talked her out of that for now. On Saturday morning we got an appointment at the store where we're going to buy the carpet and they'll also install it. They'll send someone by to take measurements and then we can ask if we need to do more to prepare the stairs or if it's good enough as it is now. My sister has a tendency to go a bit overboard and do more than is needed. That happened last year when we were preparing the walls and floors for redecorating. She doesn't mind, but I think it's a waste of time, energy and money (or as my grandfather used to say: I'm rather lazy than tired).
But for now it'll be a more relaxed couple of days; this morning we're going to a plant nursery, this afternoon go to the recycle station and drop some things off at the thrift store and tomorrow morning we've got the appointment at the flooring store.
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