Your Best Bets for Non-Slip Floors

Ceramic Tiles Pose A Slipping Threat

If you're concerned about slipping in your home, your bathtub, on your deck, or around your pool, there are remedies available to ease your mind and greatly lessen the risk of bodily harm. Whether you are in the building stage and choosing your flooring materials or your floors are in place and in need of a non-slip solution, this article supplies you with the basics to help you determine your best bet and is focused primarily on areas where the greatest slip hazards exist (e.g., bathrooms, kitchens, garages, pools patio's, etc.).

Kitchen & Bath

These two rooms are the most likely to pose a slipping threat; yet another concern is choosing a flooring material that will withstand water. Your best bet for kitchen and bath flooring materials is ceramic tiles. There are many choices in the tile family and your final selection will depend on cleaning ease, level of maintenance, and safety. Some of your choices are shiny versus matte, glazed versus unglazed, rough versus smooth, and hard versus soft.

•  High-gloss, shiny tiles are the easiest to clean and they offer a stain-resistant feature. However, they are the most slippery, unless treated with an anti-slip treatment.

•  Rough, textured, unglazed, sand glaze, and raised disk are the least slippery, but come with reduced cleaning ability and stain resistance.

Your choice will be determined by the level of importance you place on ease of cleaning and maintenance, aesthetics, chemical and stain resistance, and the slip factor. Though shiny, glazed tiles initially are more slippery; the alternative is treating the glazed tile. This will leave the floor more cleanable and slip-resistant than if an unglazed tile or slip-resistant tile was initially chosen for the floor.

There is some confusion concerning slip-resistance of different surfaces. A common misconception, for example, is that a matte glazed surface will be slip-resistant. This is not true. Even rough glazed tiles can be slippery when wet, unless treated with an anti-slip treatment.

The main key to remember is that no hard mineral surface remains slip-resistant permanently. You will need to periodically rejuvenate your tile for safety purposes.

Garage Floors, Concrete Patios, Wood Decks, Pool Patios

These flooring surfaces can be exceedingly slippery and dangerous. Here are a few ideas to create a more slip-resistant environment:

• Use an abrasive non-slip coating kit. It's easy to use, simply roll or brush on. Available for wood, metal, concrete, and fiberglass. This is an epoxy resin that is grease- and oil-resistant, making it ideal for walkways, driveways, and garages.

• Glow-in-the-dark non-slip resin is handy for marking walkways, ladders, and stairways.

• Rubberized non-skid floor coatings come in many color choices and can be applied to cement, asphalt, metal, wood, and fiberglass. Eco-Tuff offers a product that meets Green Building LEED standards. 

Rule of thumb – if someone can slip on your wet floor they probably will. We hope our tips help you in your preventative maintenance endeavor.

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