Steel Stair Treads

Although steel stair treads are very common, you won’t see them in many homes or apartments.

Think industrial uses, like factories, oil rigs, and basically anywhere stairs can receive a lot of wear, tear, and abuse. Steel stair treads, and we’ll look at a few representative examples, are the horizontal part of the staircase you step on. The steel may be galvanized, painted, and is usually designed to be non slip and is rarely solid; debris and liquids fall through. Here are a few representative examples:

The Open-Grip brand available from drillspot.com has several options. It’s all 13 gauge, and comes in 24-48 inches length with widths of 11 and 7/8 inches and 9 and 7/8 inches. The finish is described as “Pregalvanized” – which means just means that the material was steel is galvanized as a sheet before it’s made into stair treads. The "Open Grip" pattern of round gripping buttons has excellent slip resistance in all directions and withstands wear well. The perforated buttons are raised with 1 3/8" holes that allow air, heat, and light to flow, and are described as a "self cleaning design." They can be installed easily without welding.

The American Stair Corporation, in business since 1956, has a number of all steel and partial steel treads. Their FasTrack treads are comprised of a nonslip safety grit on the surface which is permanently bonded to sheet steel. Their Checker Plate treads are made of slip resistant raised medium pattern sheet steel. Their Grating Treads are made of welded steel bar grating which has Checker Plate nosing. All three of these are available as treads and landing, and they also have a number of other treads as well for various purposes. American Stair Corporation also makes a number of steel railing and stringers.
McNichols makes 23 types of steel treads including galvanized, plain steel, stainless steel, and aluminum models. Construction techniques include welded, swaged, and press locked. Nosing types are corrugated, checkered plate, and cast abrasive. The majority are bar grating design although they also offer round hole treads as well as custom fabrication services for bar grating stair treads.

Not all steel stair treads as designed as weight bearing stair treads. Some are made to be retrofitted onto any staircase much like rubber or vinyl ones for a safe non slip surface. For example SlipNOT makes this type in steel, galvanized steel, aluminum, and stainless steel, as well as a larbe number of other metal safety flooring products.

The manufacturers and products listed above are simply given as examples of steel stair treads. You’ll need to do your own due diligence to select products appropriate form your applications.