I'm late to doing pre-winter projects, but gotta do something. Our front entry currently has wood steps and landing with redwood/yuck colored stain. Appears sound and in good condition. It is on the north side of the house, so it gets icy and has no direct sun exposure. There is no railing, which is the most important concern, but don't want to do the railing and leave the ugly redwood there. The sides of the frame are solid wood, and I'm thinking that once the boards for the steps are removed we can attach more solid wood for framing and support for railings. I do not like pvc, but have left-over bannisters/ballusters from a fence we took out. I would prefer to use Trex for the surface boards if it is sound/suitable/safe. Would Trex be more likely to get mossy or slippery than wood?
I just started looking at railing materials online this morning, and it looks like Trex has some neat looking stuff. We will go shopping later to see what is available locally. The house is off-white T111 (I think) with dark teal trim and shutters. I regularly salt the steps in winter (this is only our second winter here)...if I leave the wood steps we presently have, I'm thinking of drilling a couple of holes in each step to help get rid of melt water that collects. We shovel as soon as it snows, as I am paranoid about falling or having visitors slip and fall. Would like to know experiences for similar situations.