High-visibility edging for exterior steps

The three steps up to my front door are topped with black limestone slabs, and I'm beginning to be concerned about their safety (or rather the safety of anyone using them) especially in poor visibility: I'd like clearly to mark the front edge of each step with a white or other light-coloured strip. There are various commercial products available, both stick-on and screw-down: see for instance this page:

formatting link
question is: would it be adequate to stick down such a nosing strip, or should it be screwed? If so, is it practical to drill into a limestone slab so close to the edge? The stuff does seem to chip quite easily. If adhesive could be used, what would be recommended?

Or should I just paint a white stripe along the edge of the steps?

Many thanks,

Bert

Reply to
Bert Coules
Loading thread data ...

formatting link
a set of factory steps. It works well and shows no signs of wear after five years' of fairly heavy use. Just make sure you clean the step well first.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

Thanks for that, Colin. Clearly an option I should consider. I also wondered about using straightforward 1"x1" white PVC angle bonded to the front of the steps: I don't see why an exterior adhesive (or sealant?) shouldn't be perfectly strong enough, and one advantage of the angle is that would hide the slightly uneven front edges of the limestone slabs.

Bert

Reply to
Bert Coules

When I was site supervisor at the local Primary school, I was advised to get some non slip bright yellow paint, but it was too expensive for my budget. In the end, the lines were painted by the council's contractors. They lasted as long as I was there.

Dave

Reply to
Dave

I thought the old dodge was to mix some sharp sand in the paint, or sprinkle some on whilst the paint is wet.

Chris

Reply to
Chris J Dixon

Thanks, Dave and Chris. Paint does of course have the advantage of not creating a trippable-over raised edge. I'd never heard of the mixing-sand trick, though.

Bert

Reply to
Bert Coules

It is only marginally better than paint without. Coarse carborundum pwoder, available for tumble polishing stones, works better.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

Colin,

Thanks, though in truth I'm not that concerned about making the edging non-slip: visibility is the important issue.

Bert

Reply to
Bert Coules

But the advice to use builders sharp sand might not be too good. That varies immensly and can contain small stones and quite large irregular bits and quite a lot of fine muck. You really need a graded fine (approx 1mm or a bit smaller), washed, grit.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Donkey Stone.

Reply to
Steve Firth

I had to look that up. It turns out that a donkey stone is an abrasive scouring block. I'm not clear on how one of those could produce a light-coloured edging to my limestone steps.

Thanks for the reply.

Bert

Reply to
Bert Coules

You were reading an explanation written by an idiot. Probably something on Wikipedia?

I take it th'art not a northener then? Donkey stoning t'step was, until the 60s at least the way that all steps were treated. First used as a scouring block to keep them clean and non-slip and to colour the stone, then the edge of the step would be rubbed with a dry stone to put a white or yellow stripe on the edge to make it visible.

Most of the non-Wiki pages seem to have a reference to the use of the stones to colour the steps.

Reply to
Steve Firth

Steve,

Thanks for the elucidation. So where do I get a donkey stone, then? I'm pretty sure I'll receive nothing but blank looks if I ask for such a thing down here on't Kentish shoreline.

Bert

Reply to
Bert Coules

The last manufacturer appears to have closed down over 30 years ago, so probably nowhere, unless you find one of those old-fashioned ironmongers with lots of brown boxes on shelves that contain stuff nobody has bought for years.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

There's no lack of abrasives available.

I'd avoid applying solid items that rise the lip. Paint would be easier than abrading, you can get hi vis yellow for =A34-6 last time I looked. Though I guess you oughta use something more porous to avoid freeze-thaw damage.

NT

Reply to
NT

They are still being made, but I've no idea where the closest supplier to Kent would be. And I suspect no one nowadays would want to spend most of Monday morning stoning the steps.

Reply to
Steve Firth

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.