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Keep Your Home's Steps Functional
Does your home have indoor or outdoor steps and staircases? Have
you spent much time cleaning and maintaining these on a routine
basis, or are you trusting to luck that they will hold up
indefinitely, or at least until you have more time to give them
your attention?
Steps perform a vital function in our homes. Although some
people install faux staircases for a designer look, most steps
are used to connect different levels of a home and facilitate
passage between them through a series of easy-to-climb wood,
steel, or vinyl footholds. Except for physically disabled
people, these are generally safe enough for any age person to
navigate, from toddlers to the elderly. But if they are not, you
can do some things to make them more conducive to save passage
for all your household members, as well as occasional guests.
Make a rule that the steps cannot have any clutter on them.
Assign the task of clearing them each day to one of the kids, or
make each person responsible for removing shoes, newspapers,
coats, books, and other items they may set down there instead of
leaving them laying around for days at a time. It may help to
have someone vacuum the steps to remove dust, dropped pins or
hairclips, and anything else that could stick someone' bare
foot.
Check every few months or so to be sure each step remains
solid. Loose boards or torn carpeting can lead to nasty falls.
Get your hammer and nails to fix any broken areas promptly to
keep someone from falling and getting hurt. While you're at it,
check the banisters and railings to be sure they're stable, and
that no spokes are splintered or ready to stick out and give
someone a splinter. If
you don't have a handrail, this might be
the time to install one. One on the right-hand side or two for
both hands is your choice, depending on family members' needs.
Make sure these fit tightly to the wall, and discourage kids
from playing on them.
If your steps are carpeted, check for loose strings that may be
unraveling, and clip them to prevent their getting caught in
people's shoes or in a trailing robe or child's toy. If your
steps are bare, consider adding stair treads with thin grooves
to help keep users from slipping. This is especially important
for steps that lead from the outside to the inside of your home,
but they will be useful for any staircase in your house. Make
sure the treads are firmly nailed or glued in place, and check
periodically for loose ends that could flip up when they catch
on someone's slipper or shoe and cause a fall.
Lighting is another important feature of safe stairways. Wall
sconces or table lamps on the landings could be helpful.
Overhead lighting works, too, although bulbs may be harder to
change when they burn out.
You might want to place an area rug at the bottom of the steps,
making sure it is secure with a rubber backing that grips the
bare floor or adheres in place to the carpet. The rug will catch
debris from people's shoes before they take the steps where
dried mud and accumulated dust can come off and fill stair
treads or coat carpet fibers.
About the author:
Learn from the stair building pros all you will ever need about
caring for your household steps for both safety and appearance
from Staircase Step at Staircase Step
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