NA - Higher Visibility Steps

wanttaja

wanttaja

Final Approach
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
5,667
Location
"War-Torn" Portland
Display Name
Ron Wanttaja
Home Airfield
Twin Oaks Airpark
Still preparing to move into the new house. It has an attractive brick walkway leading up to the front entry, with two steps.

The problem is, the mottled appearance of the brick tends to hide the presence of the steps when coming down.

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I'm used to it now, but had some minor unsteadiness until I adapted. I'm concerned about older family and friends stumbling.

Anybody have any idea of how I could make the steps more obvious? I'm concerned that, for instance, metal caps would tend to wear and break free, and paint would wear and chip.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Any chance you could find a contractor that could tilt/slope or grind those bricks into a ramp, or pour a short ramp of concrete?
 
It's ugly,, but they make high visibility tape that's rated for outdoors. We put some on a couple of steps going down to our community slips that people kept missing.
 
flyingron said:
It's ugly,, but they make high visibility tape that's rated for outdoors. We put some on a couple of steps going down to our community slips that people kept missing.
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Even a strip of black tape would work, or even get that thicker rubberized adhesive floor strips for the edge. Just something to break up the pattern.
 
Replacing the nose blocks with a contrasting color (lighter probably?) is the most elegant solution as suggested above.
 
You can get skateboard grip tape in different colors.

Adding light is a good idea
 
for a cheaper option - Instead of replacing the bricks, it would be easy enough to stain them. Folks around here with paver brick driveways get their bricks re-sealed all the time...sometimes adding color

A little more drastic and probably longer-lasting solution would be coatings.... that stuff that people coat their garage floors with
 
Get some potted plants or some other decorative outdoor thing to put to one side of the steps. That will visually clue people into the height change without looking out of place.
 
Replace the nose tiles or have someone route a couple of lines and fill them with contrasting paint. Even black would work.
 
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Lots of good suggestions, thanks, folks.

Didn't know about brick stain, will consider it. The nose bricks on the steps are already a darker color, maybe just needs more.

The other thing I'm considering is adding a hand rail. Not required by code (only two steps) but anyone seeing it will know there are steps there.

The final decision lies with CINChouse, of course....

Ron Wanttaja
 
Careful with grip tape; it can be it's own trip hazard.
 
wanttaja said:
The final decision lies with CINChouse, of course....
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When you’re presenting the options, note that there is phraseology that you don’t want to use when your asking her if she wants the nose hit with new bricks or if she’d rather dye.
 
As other have suggested maybe got with a different color brick for the apron, or......

iu
 
I would not try tape of any kind on brick. Too likely to come up and create a trip hazard. Stain or paint.
 
wanttaja said:
The other thing I'm considering is adding a hand rail. Not required by code (only two steps) but anyone seeing it will know there are steps there.
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I recently installed this one on a similar two step entry for my soon to be 88 y.o. dad.
It was a well made thing
His brick steps were the bricks regular veneer construction bricks, the ones with internal holes, so it made it a pain in the neck to get a good anchor. I think it was only two of the four expanding anchors was able to get a bite in the holes I drilled, so I ended up using anchoring epoxee. It was solid.
 
Brad W said:
I recently installed this one on a similar two step entry for my soon to be 88 y.o. dad.
It was a well made thing
His brick steps were the bricks regular veneer construction bricks, the ones with internal holes, so it made it a pain in the neck to get a good anchor. I think it was only two of the four expanding anchors was able to get a bite in the holes I drilled, so I ended up using anchoring epoxee. It was solid.
Click to expand...
Brilliant! I like it!

Ron Wanttaja
 
Brad W said:
A little more drastic and probably longer-lasting solution would be coatings.... that stuff that people coat their garage floors with
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Use lots and lots and lots of the fine sand additive to avoid creating a different problem.
 
It looks like whoever installed the original steps tried to make it contrast by using darker, square pattern bricks. It it were me, I would have used standard length dark bricks laid end to end instead. My solution would probably be to replace the nose tiles with two custom made full length bricks. Or maybe stained concrete. Something that looks like an actual step.
 
I'd go with the stain option, but for sure test it first with the same brick or in an invisible place. Un-glazed masonry is porous like a sponge and will soak up any kind of oil or water based stain. Getting it even and in the color you want might be tricky. Doing the whole brick of each edge row would probably be the way to go.
 
Albany Tom said:
I'd go with the stain option, but for sure test it first with the same brick or in an invisible place. Un-glazed masonry is porous like a sponge and will soak up any kind of oil or water based stain. Getting it even and in the color you want might be tricky. Doing the whole brick of each edge row would probably be the way to go.
Click to expand...
that's a good point...
also sealing it too much with the wrong stuff can make it slippery when wet.
 
That looks dangerous. I took a bad spill on a stairway that had the same problem. In the available lighting, the last step blended in with the flooring below. I thought I was down when I still had one more step to go. Fortunately, I didn't break anything and my ego was the most-bruised part, but it could easily have been much, much worse.
 
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