I will be facing a similar issue, I want to get rid of carpet too. The last house I owned had a rather dramatic circular stair which had originally been hard wood I am sure but which had been painted black. A little slippery for sure but mostly I found it easy to forget and get too close to the inside radius and particularly when going down the inside edge of the steps was so small one tended to miss two or three. Pretty but very dangerous.
At our hospital they covered the cement stairs with some sort of rubber plasticized facing. These are white and the housekeepers hate them passionately. They also lack any slide and I find I tend to catch my heal as the foot leaves the step. I don't have any idea though if these can be had in more domestic friendly looking finishes or not. Tile and linoleum used to be pretty common with a metallic nose cap. Even wood or painted wood with a ridged nose cap sometimes let into the wood to make it more or less flush and keep the edge of the tread from wearing too quickly as feet rub off of it. Just a couple of ideas I have been knocking about. ----- Original Message ----- From: Scott Howell To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 6:17 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] uncarpeted stairs - a slip and trip issue? FOlks, My wife and I have been toying with the idea of removing the carpet throughout the house as it ages. We have already rid the first level of our home with tile in the kitchen and laminate in the livingroom and part of the lower level. So, then she noticed that the steps being carpeted seem to get quite dirty. So, we could either put down some low-pile and dark-colored carpet, but then we also thought maybe we could just remove it all together. Of course this means filling in the nail holes, using nails to fix the noises since we can't get behind them, and well staining or painting them. Of course this means the steps could then become a slip hazard for those in the house who choose to wear socks etc. Is there anything we can do if we chose to go the carpetless route and avoid killing guests or members of the family? Is there an additive we could use to make the steps course enough to prevent a slip? Yep, it will be a little noisier, but maybe someone has other ideas? We're open to ideas at this point since we have done nothing. tnx, [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
