Easy-to-install winter stair treads?

November 18, 2008 4:50 PM

Where can I get easy-to-install winter stair treads?

My landlord rebuilt our porch steps and painted them in some glossy paint, which causes them to ice up from even a tiny bit of precip. I fell on them twice today, despite death grip on the railing. Rather than wait around for him to purchase and install some stair treads
(his track record is in the toilet), I'd like to address this myself.

What I'd like are these, but they are out of stock. Home Depot and Valu had only thin rubber things which looked like they wouldn't last through December in Buffalo.

Can anyone point me to a sturdy, ice-resistant product, perhaps that I could buy locally? Thanks.

posted by Riverine to home & garden (4 comments total)

Many people here mix coarse sand into the paint when painting outside stair treads, and it works really well. I would ask your landlord to do that as soon as possible. In the meantime, a cheap and ugly temporary fix would be to tack or staple down some asphalt roofing shingles that you have cut to the width of the stair. These would work, and might be ugly enough to make your landlord address the problem post haste.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 5:03 PM on November 18, 2008

sand in paint isn't the best idea for the porch itself, and will probably end up leading to the paint finish failing.

We had the same problem with our porch, and the previous owners painting with the glossiest paint ever--those stairs were total deathtraps with even a sprinkling of rain. We bought removable rubber treads like these and they're lifesavers.

You don't really need the ice breakers, you just need some kind of traction. And when it snows, you can just pick up the rubber tread, knock the snow and ice off, and lay it back down. Even if you're stepping on them through icy snow, it's STILL worlds better than slidy stairs.
posted by kumquatmay at 6:53 PM on November 18, 2008

Try this for a DIY approach
posted by megatherium at 7:10 PM on November 18, 2008

Thanks, folks.

We carpet-tacked some rubber backed rug I had around to one side of the steps.

I agree, the fancy PVC ones are probably excessive. But I would still like to see them in person one day.

kumquatmay, was there a link to go with the "removable rubber treads like these"?
posted by Riverine at 4:24 PM on November 19, 2008