Hello all,
I have a set of wood stairs out the front of my house which are real killers. They have older painted cedar treads. I also have a steep roof which has a gutter but manages to dump quite a bit of snow and rain on the front steps. I’m in Massachusetts so we get a fair bit of both. The steps are a bit of a pain to shovel because the stair rail goes to the bottom, no space to push snow to either side.
My mother in law just took a tumble down the stairs, fortunately without serious injury due to some unexpected ice.
Any suggestions on what I could replace the treads with? Something that might give you better grab than painted cedar and/or shed water? I would put some gaps in, of course; has to be shovelable so I can clear them off soon as possible.
I’ll work on the gutter trying to make it better.
I don’t think I want to go the awning route, but I’ll look into it.
Any replies greatly appreciated,
Ben
Replies
Broadcasting sand....
over the paint will help. (while the paint is still wet.)
Replacing with a trex like product will help.
Narrower pcs with gaps in between will help.
A commercial slip guard tread cover will help.
Salt on any of these will help.
If it must be wood ...
My first answer is ... bluestone/masonry. But if wood is the budget -
Use adhesive, abrasive-finish stair nosing strips:
http://www.kofflersales.com/product.asp?cid=23&pid=36
Also, spaced multi-piece treads ( 3 pieces x 5/4 x 4 for example = 1 tread) work better than wide solid treads.