Deck Steps

[JimCNY]

Is there a way to make deck steps less slippery from ice and snow?
They are made out of pressure treated SYP. They have not been stained or painted yet maybe next year. We had a hard frost yesterday and they were very slippery.

[Yanita]

Hi,

Alot of folks have prepped the wood accordingly and painted with deck paint that has sand added to it. The grit gives a little better traction. Personally when I did this the shovel just made a mess of the painted steps!

Others have added textured rubber mats, again I have had no luck with those either.

I used rock salt on mine, but then again there is always that fine amount of moisture that freezes over and they are still slippery...so I threw a bunch of sand on the steps, that works but makes a heck of a spring mess to clean up and needless to say how much you track into your home. Ultimately we ended up building a roof over the steps!

[Greg]

Jim, that's just the nature of the beast in our area this time of year. Salt may help, but it gets tracked in, plus if you have pets, it can harm their feet. Greg

[Lorne]

You might try some strip of metal lath. The type they use for stuccoing, tacked to each step.




Lowes, Home Depot or any building supply will have it.

Try laying some electric heat tap or wrap under the metal mesh and loop it from step to step.

Just enough heat to keep it from freezing.

Maybe the same heated wire they use to keep rain gutters from freezing.

Or wear a pair of cleated golf shoes on icy mornings.

[Brenda (OH)]

not super pretty, but I have nailed shingles onto the steps, they lasted a while, and gave me a lot better traction. being black, when the sunlight shines on them, the snow melted pretty fast.

plus, if they wear out, fairly easy to replace....

Brenda (OH)