Non-slip additive ?

Re: Non-slip additive ?

kneale brownson

I've added the non-slip ground up sea shells sold in paint stores to tinted poly and found it successful. Can't recall, but seems like it's sort of a gray color. You also could add fine sand that's about the same color as your surface.

Re: Non-slip additive ?

Barry Irby

I used Varathane polyurethane with aluminum oxide already in it and it worked well. Can barely see the abrasive but you can feel it and it grips well and holds up well. I would use it again.

Both ways work

Keith L Newton

I've also finished the stairs without the abrasive in the final coat, then gone back after it has cured and mask off a small area just back from the nose of the tread maybe 3" X 2' that gets a final coat, with a sprinkle of a product I think was called Shark Bite into the wet poly.

I found that I had to do my sprinkling from about 3' above to get an even dispersal.

I think the center of the walking path is about 18" off the hand-rail, so a foot from either end never gets stepped on, so that can be left bright or smooth.

Re: Both ways work

walta

Is this an outdoor stair?

Is this likely to be a wet area?

If it is dry and the stair is designed well I see no reason to add grit. A well designed stair has a deep thread and a low equal rises on every step especially the first and last steps.

If you must live with bad design I say live with ugly industrial stair treads and stay out of the ER.

Walt

Re: Non-slip additive ?

Yonak

Barry, I believe I've looked up Varathane polyurethane with aluminum oxide before and noticed it didn't mention a non-slip feature. Is this just something you've noticed about the finish or is it designed for non-slip functionality ?

Re: Both ways work

Yonak

Walt, this is indoors. It's 3 steps from a hallway to the living room. The wooden treads are already in place. I have to finish them.

The homeowner hasn't complained of any skidding but my wife suggested, since I'm refinishing them, I should add a non-slip surface. (Leave it to the spouse to complicate any situation you think is simple. ) I'm not a home re-modeler. I'm just doing a favor for a friend.

Actually, what I'm hoping is that someone will tell me a non-slip coating is not necessary for this application. How many people put a non-slip finish on stairs that won't get a carpet ?

Re: Both ways work

walta

I do not know if you are dealing with a bad design or a solution in search of a problem.

What is the depth of the threads? What are the rises of each step? Is there a railing?

My aunt has lives with a very bad step between kitchen and the rest of the house for 30 years one deep tread with 2 rises of 10-11 inches and no railing. Should never have bought the house is the only real fix.

If the stair is a bad design I say replace it with a good design or politely walk away.

I understand it may be a bitter pill but do you want to be associated if someone takes a fall off a badly designed step.

Walta

Re: Non-slip additive ?

Barry Irby

Now you have made me say Hmmm, I say Hmmm.

The stairs are indoor stairs in a rental I own. I can't readily see the grit, but if you run your hand over it you can feel it. But, I think you are right, it was advertised as highly resistant to wear. Still would use it again.

The comments on riser height are good to think about. A set of three steps/ risers is a little tricky to frame. If you make them all the same when you cut the stringers and then add the treads it can throw them off unless you compensated for the thickness of the treads. If you start out with each rise being 7" on the stringer and then add the tread, the bottom one becomes 8", the middle 7" and the top 6". This is a serious tripping hazard. Measure the rise on each of your step and make sure they are within 3/8" of each other.

As far as walking on the center only, one of my tenants holds onto the hand rail and actually scrubs his foot on the wall. He is elderly but the point is you can't rely on people to be average.

"...you can't rely on people to be average."

Yonak

Truer words were never spoken.

Walking path

Jason Roehl

...is considered 12” from the handrail. On spiral stairs, where the treads are wedge-shaped, and one end might be only 1” deep, 12” away from the handrail is where one measures the tread depth to meet code.

Jason

Inside I don't feel it is needed

Mike L

In OH before I left I redid my entire stair case. I took off the carpet and the pine treads. I bought Oak treads to replace them. I stained them then put Poly on them. I did Oak treads with a white painted riser. To stop the riser from getting all marked up when I completed installing all the parts I went and put a final coat of gloss poly on it.

I think it was 13 steps, we never had an issue with slipping. I wet sanded the poly to make it smoother.

So if it is inside with a 10 inch tread and 7 inch raise I would not worry about it.

Thanks, all . . .

It's not always people...

Steve D, CT

My elderly dog has weak legs and low friction feet. We bought stair runners for her to navigate the stairs in her remaining days.

I have no idea if any finish treatment would solve her problem.

I did make a set of wooden collapsible stairs for the car with beads of silicone caulk near the edges and she won't use them. Same rise and run as the house.

Re: Non-slip additive ?

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Yonak, there are two ways to non-slip treads (outside of taping them).

Here in Oz I can purchase a non-slip powder, which one adds to poly. Then paint it in.

The second method will cost nothing extra: In my younger days I used to repair surfboards and windsurfers. The non-slip coat on windsurfers was a layer of epoxy, and one sprinkled caster sugar on top (use a fine sieve for this, otherwise it will clump). Castor sugar is a very fine sugar used in baking. It has a different name in the USA. Once the epoxy has dried, hose it down. This dissolves the sugar and leaves a very fine etching. This will work with poly in place of epoxy, which I have done when adding non-slip to woodworking fixtures.

Regards from Perth

Derek

i think it's a great idea...

David Weaver

..I recall as a kid having wooden uncarpeted stairs in my parents house. I went down them more than one time without being in standing position most of the way. Then they were carpeted (I've gone down two sets of carpeted stairs, too, including in the current house...

...make that three, but there was a cat and a laundry basket involved in one - cats are slippery if you step on them, and somehow, mine seemed unharmed.

I'd be pleased to have some abrasive in the finish on my steps the next time I redo them.

Re: Non-slip additive ?

Mark Nowicki

Kosher salt.