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The saga of Woolf and stairs

1K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  Karla 
#1 ·
First, it isn't because he is scared of them thankfully. It may help if he did respect them just a bit..... isn't gonna happen.

It seems the deck stairs have gotten slick over the summer. Nope, nothing growing on them :p . It is time to clean and restain the deck/stairs and we are trying deciding how to do this AND remedy the slipping the dogs are doing.

Just staining will not affect the slip factor. Has anyone used the Rustoleum Deck Restore and how was the finished surface? Did it have traction, or same as a painted surface? Another option we are trying to avoid doing is the outdoor grit roll tape, but will use it if we have to. Has anyone tried this and did it last very long?

Any other ideas? Woolf already has a very distinguished scar from slipping and hitting his head on the post. We are trying to avoid either dog having a serious injury.

Thanks
 
#2 ·
When we lived in Chicago, we used porch paint, which had grit in it. A lot of folks would buy paint and add playground sand, instead of buying the more expensive porch paint. It worked well. I realize you may not want to paint, but maybe you could add playground sand to your stain? Just kind of throwing that out there don't know if it would work.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Any other ideas?
Thanks
Yep -- after you paint, put down stick-on stair tread tape. They have several brands for sale at Home Depot -- here's an example: hyStik 770 2 in. x 5 yds. Black Anti-Slip Tape (1-Roll)-770-2-Bk at The Home Depot

We put this down on slick stairs to help an oldster and it REALLY helped. The difference was like night and day -- bonus: it made it safer for humans too! It held up for 2 years for us. We're just now needing to replace it.

A pricier solution is to use decorative rubber stair tread mats, which have to be nailed in place. They have some pretty designs, but you are limited to a small selection of sizes, and you have to potentially buy a lot of them. Here's what they look like:
Entryways Fleur Di Lys Stair Tread 9 in. x 30 in. Recycled Rubber Door Mat-194R at The Home Depot

We put the deco mats at the top and bottom only, as they offer a texture change for the blind dog. The middle all use the non-slip tape.

It rains A LOT where we live, and the porch stairs have an oil-based paint on them that is very slick when wet. The tape solved the problem.

ETA: you can get the paint grit stuff to mix into regular paint. My handyman did that when he painted a dog ramp he built me for a geriatic dog. The grit additive in paint does help. I'm not sure I'd rely on it alone.
 
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