Make these stairs safer?

blackstar

Hi all

We moved into a new home 6 months ago and for some reason we all keep missing our step or twisting our ankle on these two steps in the photo. I've no idea why.

Please can someone give us some suggestions as to how to make these steps safer or even get rid of them? Maybe a slope or similar?

silvercar

I would make the middle step wider. I’d go as far as the end of the wall on the left.

teaselMay

I'd probably do that too, and also perhaps carpet them with something plain, an off cut would do it. I wonder whether the short step combined with the visual effect of the perpendicular lines - the flooring and the white painted edges - might be making it hard to judge.

RogerPensionGuy

On fist viewing, the visual effects of the covering look strange.

Suggest any other lines but not in that orientation. 

The step edge just doesn't make the step prominent enough. 

Objects on that level corner, remove them as a first plan. 

But that covering and step corners just don't give easy perifferial view.

It indeed looks like a trip hazard. 

Lorian

Step heights look different too.

blackstar

It in practice seems to be a trip hazard in reality and trying to find a solution. Wish I could get rid of them and just have a slope? Is that possible.?

teaselMay

You could, I'm not sure whether the distance from the door way on the left to the top is long enough to do it the simplest way. If you've got a piece of sturdy wood you could mock up a ramp to see what the angle looks like

Alderbank

blackstar said:

It in practice seems to be a trip hazard in reality and trying to find a solution. Wish I could get rid of them and just have a slope? Is that possible.?

It's possible. But the gradient of the slope would be the same as the shape of the staircase strings (the shaped pieces of wood on each side of the steps). That gradient looks to be about 30 degrees which would be very dangerous.

The science of making steps safe is simple and very well understood. The risers absolutely must be equal and the wider the treads are the better, so as suggested above you need to make a new step to go over the lower one to make both risers equal and make the tread wider, up to the door on the left.
Handrails on each side at the correct slope wouldn't harm and get rid of that clutter on the landing!

FlorayG

I'm sure your problem is that they are not the same height. Is there anything you can do to equal them up?

moneysaver1978

As above but also would motion activated lights mounted to the wall help?

gwynlas

They look to be of two different heights and the bullnose edging is of different widths.

We tend not to look tpp closely when walking and rely on instinct to stop us falling,

Increasing the depth of the bottom step should help as well as increasing the size of edging