Even though you may use your wooden stairs frequently throughout the day, they are still rather dangerous. Have you ever gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to get a snack or check on the dog only to discover yourself lying on your back? Read on if you want to learn how to make wooden steps less slick in order to prevent that scenario.
Add texture to your hardwood steps by adding a carpet or stair runner for the quickest way to make them less slippery. Grip Strips for Stairs, anti-slip finishes, spray, and paint additives also work if you don’t like the way the carpet looks; just be sure to first remove the wax from your steps. In order to ensure that each step complies with code, measure its ascent and execute.
The good news is that it may be inexpensive and simple to install slip-proofing systems for your steps. Contrarily, choosing carpet might be more time- and money-consuming than going with an adhesive or stain.
To help you choose the best option for the non-slip surface on your wooden stairs, in this post we’ll go through the advantages and disadvantages of each technique and product.
How slippery are wood stairs?
What makes people keep these things in their homes if they are so dangerous?
A well-built set of hardwood stairs looks wonderful, to put it simply. Visitors frequently see your steps when they enter your home if they are located opposite your front door. Anyone who visits your home will find your stunning set of oak, ash, or even hickory stair treads to be a major selling point and topic of conversation.
They must first be ultra-smooth sanded before receiving numerous coats of stain, finish, or wax in order to make the treads gleam. Your hardwood steps’ “shine”—the stair finish—is what makes them so slick.
To increase traction, you could sand the treads of your stairs with coarse sandpaper, but doing so would remove the polish from the treads, giving them a very unappealing appearance. not a choice.
Slippery Wooden Stairs: How to Make Them Less Slippery
1. Transparent Anti-Slip Strips
These strips are transparent, as suggested by their name. Even a roller is provided for installation with some goods. The strip will be free of air bubbles after being rolled, enabling excellent blending with the remainder of the tread.
These strips can be used on surfaces other than wood and with both indoor and outdoor steps. If you ever decide to stop using the strips, it can be difficult to remove them, depending on the manufacturer.
Modern transparent anti-slip strips are produced without the use of PVC and with a view on indoor barefoot use. These translucent strips are not like sandpaper, in contrast to the opaque black strips. They offer a textured, soft surface that deters slips while still being cosy to walk on.
2. Stair Carpet Strips
Carpet strips are just rectangles of carpet that have been trimmed to meet a common thread size, similar to how adhesive strips are. Since many of them have a backing that is neither glue or adhesive, stair carpet strips have this advantage. That indicates that your wooden stair treads won’t be harmed.
Another tempting feature of carpet strips is that they let you avoid having a carpet stair runner that spans the entire length of your steps.
For steps that are small or wide, stair carpet strips are available in a wide range of styles and widths. The majority of them have a sticky, but non-adhesive, backing that holds the carpet in place. Instead of the carpet’s actual backing, some manufacturers feature a non-slip underlay.
3. Anti-Slip Tape
This is the black, grippy tape that you might have noticed on the treads of stairs in business or institutional buildings.
This anti-slip tape is familiar to anyone who has used it before and knows it sticks well and provides a non-slip surface to all types of stairs. It’s actually an adhesive-backed sandpaper – 80 grit.
This tape is waterproof, which is even better. It won’t peel off if you apply it on interior and exterior wood stairways. It will survive rain incredibly well, but I wouldn’t advise placing it in a location that suffers frequent moisture, like a pool deck.
Installing anti-slip tape on wooden stairs in your home has the major drawback of being difficult to remove. You can anticipate that the wood finish will come off with the adhesive backing when you take the strips off because it is not kind to wood floor coatings.
4. Anti-Slip Floor Finish
There are anti-slip wood finishes that won’t hide the elegance of your hardwood stair treads, but they are a less common option due to the dearth of goods available.
The anti-slip coating for wood floors is applied transparently. You have a variety of options for how the finish will appear after application because many products come in different finishes like matte or gloss.
The removal of these products is a drawback. It may be tough to remove the product or it may harm your treads if you don’t like the way it looks or functions.
Conclusion
To make your wooden stairs anti-slip, you can use any of the options listed above, but make sure to always abide by the product’s instructions. Following the manufacturer’s specifications will guarantee that any product you select will look as it should and won’t detract from the aesthetics of your hardwood staircase.