Non slip stair treads should be installed on every
stairway, if possible. The biggest safety problem you're going to have
with any set of stairs, will be personal injuries. If someone's walking
down a stairway with smooth steps, on a rainy day, with smooth shoe
soles or high heels, they'd better be careful, especially if the
stairway doesn't have any non slip stair treads.
This one's actually easy to answer, simply apply a non slip material on
top of your slippery treads and your problem is solved. Ah, if only it
was that easy.
There are a few ways that you can create a non slip stair tread. The
easiest way would be to apply a non-skid tape, towards the front of the
stair tread or step surface.
The second way would be to apply any non-skid adhesive pads to the stair
treads. This type of pad covers most of the tread, instead of the front
edge. These pads will provide you with a larger surface area of slip
resistant materials.
The third way would be to paint some type of a skid resistant material,
onto the stair tread. However, some of these epoxy paints can actually
have the opposite effect and create a bigger problem, than you would
have had, if you left the stair step alone.
Be careful using epoxy paints and if you do decide to use them, make
sure that you read and understand the manufacturer's installation
instructions. It wouldn't even be a bad idea, to make your own sample,
if possible.
Simply grab a scrap piece of lumber and apply the non skid paint or
epoxy paint to the surface area. After it dries, try to figure out,
whether or not this product will provide you with a non slip stair
tread.
I've actually walked down stairways that were painted with slip
resistant epoxy paints, that were extremely slippery when wet.
