4 Great Methods On How to Make Wooden Stairs Less Slippery
Hardwood flooring is very popular nowadays and for great reasons. They are simple to clean and they make your home feel warm and beautiful.
One of the several drawbacks of hardwoods is that their even glossy surface can be slippery, particularly on wooden stairs.
Therefore, the most reliable way to make your hardwood stairs less slippery is to attach traction by placing the carpet, anti-slip glue stair treads, or implementing a layer of anti-slip flooring finish to the exterior of each wooden stair. All 3 of these solutions make the surface of each wooden stair more uneven, add adhesion, and notably lessen the danger of slipping.
In addition to utilizing one of these ways to add traction, I suggest ensuring your wooden stairway and handrails will be done by Hardwood Area’s experts.
In this article, Hardwood Area talked about the ideas you can make the wooden stairs less slippery and describe the advantages and disadvantages of each way so you can choose which one is best for you.
Method 1: Installing a Carpet on Wooden Stairway
Method 2: Use Anti-Slip Glue Stair Treads
Method 3: Implement an Anti-Slip Floor Finishing
Method 4: Ensure Your Wooden Stairs Are Up to Regulations
Plan 1: Installing a Carpet
One of the most popular methods to make wooden stairs less slippery is to place a carpet. Carpet not only gives your wooden stairs more reliability by giving traction to the surface, but it also can be a nice supplement to the decoration of your house.
When Hardwood Area talks about carpet, you have 2 options, carpet stair treads or stair runners.
Wooden Stair Runners
Wooden stair runners are parts of the carpet that go down your stairs but do not include the full width of every stair.
The benefits of Wooden stair runners are that they reach the entire depth of every stair tread, maintain the wood from scratch, decrease noise, seem fabulous, and, most significantly, make them less slippery.
The drawbacks of stair runners are that they are much costly, they will get dirty and are challenging to clean, they’re difficult to install accurately, and the carpet on the corner of every stair can wear down and get smooth over time.
Carpeting Stair Treads
If you select to work with the carpet, your other choice is to utilize carpet stair treads. Carpet stair treads are singular parts of the carpet that you can install individually on every stair.
Carpeting stair tread’s important benefit over stair runners is that they are so simple to place.
And these are the primary levels:
Clean every stair completely
Measure the stairs to make sure you are installing them in the middle
Install parts of carpet tape, (one per side of the tread), on each tread or use non-slippery rug mats to keep them in position
Then install the treads and press on them lightly till they have fully glued to every step
Carpeting treads are less costly than utilizing carpet running and are much simpler to clean. You can eliminate them simply, wash down the wood beneath, and clean the treads or soak them in water and soap. Most significantly, if placed accurately, the fibers of carpeting treads give traction and lessen the opportunity of slipping.
The problems of carpeting stair treads:
They do not give as much maintenance as a carpet runner because they do not cover around each step
They can be hard to vacuum and clean
They can slide and make more damage than they prevent if you do not place them correctly
If you choose the carpet route, whether you select to place a stair runner or stair treads, make sure to use a low-pile carpet and ensure to place it correctly. High-pile carpeting is simple to slip and will possibly do more injury than good. If you do not place your carpeting properly, it can slide, clunk, and make the specific results that you are attempting to prevent.
Plan 2: Utilize Anti-Sliperry Glue Stair Treads
The next time you go on the wooden staircase of a building, look down. You will probably notice a thick black fixing line on each step to stop slipping. However, it would surely make your steps safer, we don’t recommend you to utilize that kind of glue tread in your house.
Black tape on wooden stairs would not be a great appearance, plus business treads have a hard sandpaper-like graining that would cut up your feet.
Luckily, our company, Hardwood Area provides clear anti-slippery glue treads for the domestic application that you can place by just rolling the adhesive surface of the treads across each step.
These anti-slippery treads efficiently stop slips by attaching a slight hardness to the facade of every stair. The graining gives sufficient friction to withdraw slips though is pleasant on bare feet. They are translucent and hard to see except you are actively looking for them.
One of the most suitable features of anti-slip glue treads is that they are easy to place.
Everything you need to do is to eliminate the backing paper of the tread, install the treads around 1 inch apart from the corner of each step, and even out air bubbles with its roller.
The Hardwood Area’s treads are pre-cut to 24x 4 inches, arrive in a 15-package, and have a small roller therefore you can soften any air bubbles that get caught beneath. It’s an attractive product that Hardwood Area extremely suggests.
There are a few drawbacks of glue stair treads. First, they are tough to place quite straight. If you are an expert, you may get disappointed as you can’t place them accurately straight in the specific place you want. You need to roll them over every wooden stair from one side to the other which gives it hardness to protect a straight line.
Second thing is that wooden stairs have general cracks and holes, therefore you cannot fully withdraw air bubbles.
Finally, eliminating them from your steps can create some insignificant injuries. Some of the clients discuss that they leave behind a small deposit that you will need to clean off. Other clients complain that the stain on their steps is stripped. If you have a naturally painted wood floor, you should be accurate, though if your stairs are stained, we would withdraw this product.
Method 3: Apply an Anti-Slip Floor Finish
An anti-slip wooden flooring finish is a liquid method that you can implement immediately on your wooden stairs for making them less slippery. Utilizing an anti-slip flooring finish is an attractive choice if you don’t want to change the look of your stairs by placing carpet or do not want to have insignificant problems that clear glue stair treads make.
Anti-slip flooring finishes appear in the sort of stain or clear layer. Tiny bits are organized into the layer to add friction to the facade of the wood but are not obvious to the naked eye.
The principal benefit of this choice is that you are reaching your purpose of making your stairs less slippery without losing the elegance of natural hardwoods flooring.
There are a few drawbacks that come with utilizing an anti-slip flooring finish.
First, it will not remain forever. After some years, the anti-slip components of the finish will break down and you will require to reapply a fresh layer.
Furthermore, it does not present as much traction as carpeting or anti-slip glue stair treads. The layer is expected to decrease the slipperiness of the hardwood floor, though the tiny bits in the finish do not equal the friction that a layer of carpet or specifically created adhesive stair treads make.
Plan 4: Ensure Your Stairs Are On Regulations
Accidents are more prone to occur on stairs that are old aged and no longer fit nowadays’ construction regulations. If your stairs do not have sufficient depth or the distance between every stair is too long, you’re putting yourself and your family in your house in danger.
If you live in a more traditional house or assume something might be wrong, Hardwood Area highly suggests measuring every dimension and guaranteeing that your stairs fit today’s regulations. Here are the correct dimensions needed to meet today’s regulations.
Width of Stairway
Stand on one step and measure the length between the right and left walls. It has to be a minimum of 36″ wide.
Depth of Tread
Tread depth is the length between the head and back of every stair tread. The least tread depth is 10″, and the biggest tread depth can’t pass the smallest by ⅜ inches.
Headroom
The smallest headroom during the whole staircase can’t be under 6′ and 8″.
Height of Stair Riser
The riser’s height has to be no more than 7, ¾” tall. The riser is the length between the facade of a stair to the facade of the following stair up. The largest riser height can’t pass the minimum by more than ⅜ inches.
Railings
You must have at minimum one railing fixed in each staircase, although I’d suggest placing one on both sides for added protection. Handrails should not be more than 4.5″ from the walls. They have to be no smaller than 34″ and no more than 38″ from the landing of every stair.
Knowing and continuing with the current building regulations is difficult.
Conclusion
If you have any uncertainties, we completely suggest consulting with our expert counselors in Hardwood Area which will be free for you. You can find local constructors in any of these areas (Thousand Oaks, Malibu, Calabasas, and, Agoura hills) and get free, no-obligation tips at hardwoodarea.com/blog
Hardwood Area provides services and flooring installation in Thousand Oaks, Malibu, Calabasas, Camarillo, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Oxnard, and Ventura in a professional and quality manner.
Hardwood Area is located at The Oaks Mall, 2nd Floor, 474 West Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA, 91360, United States
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need any further information or free consultation (+1 805-338-6952)
