Epoxy Stair Coatings Vancouver
Concrete stairs are where people slip, and where cheap coatings fail first. We coat interior and exterior concrete stairs with a ground, crack-filled base, a flake or solid colour finish, and extra anti-slip texture on every tread and nosing. Garage steps, basement stairs, front entry steps, and commercial stairwells are usually done in a day, often alongside the floor they lead to.
Concrete Stairs We Coat
- Garage steps up into the house. The most common stair job, usually done with the garage floor so the colour matches.
- Basement stairs. Bare concrete stairs that dust, stain and feel unfinished.
- Front entry and porch steps. Exterior stairs that are slippery when wet, with a UV-stable topcoat so they do not yellow.
- Commercial stairwells. Exit stairs in parkades, warehouses and apartment buildings, with contrasting nosings for visibility.
- Loading dock and mezzanine stairs in industrial buildings.
Wood, tile or carpeted stairs are not coated. The system needs a concrete surface to bond to.
Making Coated Stairs Safe to Walk On
A smooth, glossy coating on a stair is a fall waiting to happen, especially with wet shoes. Stairs get more texture than the floor they connect to, and the nosing, the front edge of each step, gets the most attention.
- Flake broadcast. The flake itself adds texture across the tread.
- Anti-slip grit in the topcoat. A graded additive on every tread, coarser on exterior steps than inside.
- Nosing detail. The front edge is where a foot lands and slips. It gets extra grit, and on commercial stairs a contrasting colour strip so the edge is easy to see.
- Risers left smoother. The vertical faces do not take foot traffic, so they can be a smoother finish that is easier to wipe clean.
How Concrete Stairs Are Coated
Stairs take more hand work than a flat floor. The treads, risers and edges are all prepared and coated by hand rather than with a large grinder.
- Hand grinding of every tread, riser and edge to open the concrete, with dust extraction.
- Edge and crack repair. Chipped nosings are rebuilt square so the coating has a sharp, strong edge instead of a crumbling one.
- Base coat, flake and topcoat using the same 1-Day or 2-Day system as the floor, so they match.
- Access. Where the stairs are the only way in or out, we plan the job so one side or alternate treads stay usable, or schedule it for a day you can use another door.
The systems are explained on the 1-Day and 2-Day flake systems page. Exterior steps are covered in more detail on the patio and porch coating page.
Epoxy Stair Coating Cost
Stairs are priced by the job rather than by the square foot, because the time is in the hand prep and edge work, not the material. The number of steps, the width, the condition of the nosings, and whether they are inside or out set the price.
The best value is almost always coating stairs with the floor they connect to. The crew, the equipment and the materials are already on site, so a set of garage steps added to a garage floor coating costs far less than the same steps on their own. Floor pricing is laid out in the Vancouver epoxy flooring cost guide.
Every stair job gets a written quote after an on-site look, with edge repair and anti-slip treatment included. GST (5%) is additional.
Stairs that lead off a concrete balcony or deck are usually coated with the same membrane. See balcony and deck waterproofing.
Epoxy Stairs: Frequently Asked Questions
Stair Coatings Across Greater Vancouver
We coat interior and exterior concrete stairs throughout Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
Get a Free Stair Coating Quote
Tell us how many steps and where they are. We will look at the edges and the concrete, then send a written quote, with the floor they connect to if you want it done at the same time.