Not every project goes as well as planned. We would be happy to spend a few minutes answering your questions.
Current Articles | RSS Feed
Stairs can be dangerous to climb, especially when they are smooth with little texture for a shoe to push against. In a home, stairs are usually carpeted with makes for easy traction for a foot or shoe. However, in a commercial building or even outside, you see the potential for slips.
An easy carpentry job is to make these types of stairs safer. Most stairs will have an edge where you place your foot called a stair nose. This is at the tread and will sometimes be made of a different material than the stair tread and can have texture on it for traction. For concrete stairs it is a good idea to install some grip tape or non-skid strip. This is available at most home centers and is typically a peel-and-stick product.
The non-skid strip looks and feels like a large grit sandpaper. Clean the surface of the stair nose and peel the backing off of the strip. Placement is important here. You want to install the strip along the top front edge of the stair tread, as this is where people place their foot when climbing stairs. Placing the strip at the rear of the step next to the riser will not do much good since the foot will not be as likely to contact it.
Smooth exterior stairs and stairwells would benefit most from this treatment.
Allowed tags: <a> link, <b> bold, <i> italics
