painting wooden stairs

[Christoph]

Goog morning all,

 

I am not sure in what section I should place this question, so I put it under finishing, since it is about painting wooden stairs.

 

I have additional stairs going from the garage into the basement where my shop is. This is very convenient, all machines could go straight from the garage into the basement. Sometimes new machinery can go into the basement not passing the eyes of my wife, which reduces the amount of critical questions significantly.

Anyhow, those are simple wooden stairs, nice in the beginning, now already pretty dirty. So I came up with the idea to paint them but I am somewhat concerned that paint will make them slippery.

Well, my idea then was to mix some thin epoxy with fine sand and put a layer of that on the front half of each stair tread and over that goes the paint. That will give a slightly rough surface and will not be slippery. 

Sure, I could buy a kind of stair tread mat, however those are relatively expensive and maybe a little bit overkill in that area.

 

Any other ideas how to paint these stairs and make them non slippery?

 

Thanks

 

attached are pictures from the stairs while bringing a machine into the basement

 

[wdwerker]

Porch and deck enamel then add a sprinkling of sand to keep the traction. 3M makes adhesive traction strips of stairs and ladders.

[wtnhighlander]

What wdwerker said. Just remember to work from the bottom up, unless you have another exit from the basement!

[Christoph]

thanks for the advice,

 

@wdwerker

I never thought about using porch paint, but it makes sense. It is definitely something that is designed to walk on. I like the 3M stuff , however if you wanna get rid of it, it might be a mess.

@wtnhighlander

Definitely a good advice!

 

Years ago I met somebody who painted his master bedroom floor from the door to the window resp. balcony door. As he realized that he was trapped by the wet paint, he decided no to screw up his hard work and jumped of the balcony into a pile of sand that was still there from construction. He got himself complicated fractures of both ankles and needed a wheelchair for almost 2 month. Lesson learned, always maintain your escape route.

 

So I am happy to have another stairs that goes into the house and there is also an Egress window, plenty of escape routes.

[Thiel]

Paint every other step on day one. Remaining steps on day two.

[Don Z.]

Not cheap (nothing with a boat on the can ever is) but the marine industry deals with this problem all the time:

 

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=67&engine=adwords&keyword=interlux_deck_paint&gclid=CLSS2r3vxL8CFUOSfgod34MA3w

 

Heck, add CPES and WEST (or System 3) to your order... 

[Coop]

 

 

 

I have additional stairs going from the garage into the basement where my shop is. This is very convenient, all machines could go straight from the garage into the basement. Sometimes new machinery can go into the basement not passing the eyes of my wife, which reduces the amount of critical questions significantly.

 

 

 

 

And you got that sucker down the stairs without the wife knowing? UPS couldn't have done a better job

[arcwick08]

The blue and orange box stores stock two products;

Rustolium 10x and Olympic Restore. I've used both on stairs before. They are a heavy-duty latex paint with fine silica dust mixed in. The stuff goes on almost like mastic or thin-set mortar. Once cured its extremely grippy and non-slip, even when wet. $25-$30 a gallon if memory serves....tintable too... 

[Tom King]

You can buy additives in Lowes and Home Depot that add traction.  It's not quite as coarse, or with sharp edges, like regular sand.  We use it sometimes on dog agility equipment. 

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/BEHR-Premium-Non-Skid-Floor-Finish-Additive-97024/202301601

 

or the high priced spread

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/ANViL-1-lb-Talon-Grip-Anti-Slip-Additive-207984/203841001?MERCH=REC-_-PIPHorizontal1-4-_-NA-_-203841001-_-N

[Trip]

==>the marine industry deals with this problem all the time

+1

 

If cost isn't much of an issue, you can look at some marine coatings. They flow-out and self-level extremely well.. Your stairs will look sprayed...

 

Good: one-product solution: http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=67&familyName=Interlux+Interdeck+Polyurethane+Non-Skid+Deck+Coating

 

Better: two-product solution: http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=1439&familyName=Interlux+Perfection+Two+Part+Polyurethane and http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=136&familyName=Interlux+Intergrip+Non-Skid+Additive

 

Over the top solution (what I did): http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=1269&familyName=Smiths+Cold+CPES+Epoxy and http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=1439&familyName=Interlux+Perfection+Two+Part+Polyurethane and http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=136&familyName=Interlux+Intergrip+Non-Skid+Additive