Give more safety to your stairs

In the Netherlands there are a lot of old houses that are build before the war, that have an old staircase. Most of them are very steep and small and have very narrow treads. In that time people didn't really consider the safety, the only thing they thought about was creating a stairs to the next floor. Because of this a lot of these stairs caus a couple of accidents every year, and most of the time people have severe enjuries. Stairs like these are often placed in between two walls and this makes it very difficult to get rid of such a stairs or replace it for another one.

overzet trede maak je trede breder

Sometimes it is possible to adjust the treads and make them a little bit deeper. Technically this is not so easy, butwith the use of a new tread toplayer over the traditional tread is an option. This option is not possible of every tread, so if you have a stairs like this and it is not possible to change it, it might be an idea to consider a good quality wooden handrail. When you place this at atleast one wall side, the chances of falling down are less big.

The best option for this is a round wooden handrail with a diameter of 40mm. Make sure the handrail is properly fixed to the wall. If your home has thin or weak walls, you need to place a wooden board, better called a blemish board at the wall, perfectly glued and screwed. Use an iron handrail support to fix the handrail onto the wooden board to create the perfect save situation.

Besides from that, you could also think about ways to prevent the treads from being to slippery. Often if we walk down with our socks on, the accidents happen. You can create more grip on your treads by using an antislip strip. There are different options for this, a lot of these you can find online and at different suppliers.

antislip rubber for inside the treads
adhesive antislip strip
halfmoon stair mats

Antislip stair strip

If you want to use a standard antislip stair strip every tread needs to be provided with a rut, so the strip can be placed in the treads. This rut needs to be about 8mm width and 10mm deep. If you deside to go for this solution for your stairs, you could consider to let a professional do this for you, because it is not that easy. Average a professional will calculate about €150,- to €200,-. infrees strip

If you are gonna go for the traditional stair strip, we recommend you to first get the rut into the treads before painting the stairs, if you had plans to do so. These strips are available in different qualities, some cheaper ones get hard really fast and because of this will last less long. The strip can be purchased in different lengths so you can calculate first how much meters you might need for your stairs.

Antislip rubber adhesive strip

There are different kind of qualities on the market, you can, for example, buy the cheaper version of M3, but this will not give you a life long safe stairs. This kind of strip will get dirty pretty easily and will curl up in no-time. Besides from that, it also doesn't really feel comfortable for your feet.

These days there are a lot of adhesive antislip strips that are way more sustainable and specially designed for stair treads. This product is pretty new, and because of that not very known. The strip is made from a special pvc rubber that is 3mm thick and is very easy to clean. Because of this the product has a long lifespan.

Unfortunately this strip is only suitable for indoor use, but maybe in the future to come they might be able to change it so it will also be usefull outside. The strip is available in different RAL-colors so depending on which color you would like to paint your stairs, or the color that it has now, you can choose your favorite color. The strip is even available in the famous white color Ral 9010.

Half moon stair steps

The half moon stair mats are available in different sorts, sizes and prices. Made of carpet or pvc plastic, there are a lot of options. The big advantage of these mats is that because of the glue stickers on the back, they are very easy to apply to your stair treads. But there are also downsides about this product.