How to avoid slippery stone stairs?
Have you decided to have stone stairs in your house? Remember that they cannot be slippery, because only then it will be comfortable and pleasant to use them. So what to do in such situation? We have a few suggestions:
1. Use tiles with a rough, non-slippery finish. The best finishes are sand, cleaved, flamed, matted. Their structure is irregular, so even when they are wet or icy, when stepping on them, your feet will not lose their grip, so the risk of falling is very minimal.
2. On outside stairs, you can apply cladding or electrically heated systems to prevent ice forming on the surface. This consist of a heating cable, temperature and moisture sensors and temperature controllers. They turn on automatically and are completely safe. Such devices calculate the temperatures and determine whether it is necessary to heat the surface.
3. As far as the staircase goes, it is best to use the non-slip protection in the form of rough adhesive like tapes or refined gum profile. It is also a good solution to install treads of brass, steel or aluminum profiles.
4. You can certainly reduce the slipperiness of the stairs by drilling in grooves across the surface. Nonetheless, such grooves may permanently damage the structure of the material. What’s more, after this is done, the surface must be protected with special impregnating agents, which increases its resistance to stains and moisture. To make sure that everything is done correctly, we advise you to use the help of professionals or purchase products which are already previously prepared.
5. You can also attach material or rubber mats to the stone surface. Of course, then they won’t present themselves as impressively, but when there is no other choice, you will want to use this idea as a last resort.
In the end, it is worth to mention that you are not obliged to use such non-slippery solutions. So if you use the stairs and are comfortable with them, assuring that you keep them clean, then there is no need to worry. But be sure to keep the stairs dry at all times, especially after cleaning them.
