Epoxy Coating for Staircases and Pedestrian Walkways

Staircases and pedestrian walkways see the heaviest foot traffic in a factory, warehouse or building, yet they are often coated last, with exactly the same coating and the same method as a flat floor. That approach ignores the most important difference: on a staircase, the foot does not land evenly on a flat surface but concentrates force on the nosing of each step, while on a walkway, people and vehicles must be able to see each other’s boundaries even when they are in a hurry. This article is only about those two areas — staircases and walkways — not a repeat of the overall installation process or of the general anti-slip article.

Illustration: a concrete staircase seen from below; the steps and their nosings are the areas subject to the most wear. Photo: Mithul Varshan on Pexels.

1. Why a staircase cannot be coated like a flat floor

On a flat floor, foot traffic loads are spread over a wide area. On a staircase, each footstep lands near the nosing first and only then transfers into the tread. The nosing therefore wears faster, chips more easily, and is the first place where the substrate underneath shows through once the coating has weakened. Impacts concentrate here too: heels, trolley wheels dragged up and down the stairs, and objects dropped by people carrying loads are all likely to hit the nosing first.

Another difference is that water and dirt do not drain away as they do on a flat floor. Rainwater tracked in on shoes, cleaning water or leaking water can pool on individual steps, leaving one step wet while the next stays dry. People going up and down cannot predict which step will be slippery, so the requirements for grip and visibility on a staircase are far higher than on a flat floor in the same facility.

Finally, staircases are escape routes in many buildings. During a power outage or an incident, people move fast, crowd together and look down at their feet less than usual. Step nosings must be visible, the route must be clear, and the surface must not become a collective slip point. That is why decisions about colour, warning markings and roughness on staircases need to be made separately, rather than copying the flat floor’s specifications across.

2. The step nosing: the point that decides the life of the whole staircase

If you could inspect only one place on an epoxy-coated staircase, inspect the nosing. This is where the coating suffers wear, impact and water exposure at the same time. As the nosing wears, the coating thins from the outside in, exposing the concrete substrate or the primer beneath, and creating an uneven edge that makes people stumble on the very next step.

When surveying an old staircase for recoating, the condition of each nosing should be recorded separately: which nosings are chipped, which are worn hollow, and which were previously patched with a repair that has since delaminated. A staircase with chipped steps should not simply be coated over in the hope that the coating will fill the chips; damaged substrate must be repaired before coating, or the new coating will crack again at exactly the same weak point. General concrete substrate preparation is covered in Kadier’s technical substrate articles; this article only stresses that on staircases, nosing inspection must not be lumped together with flat-floor inspection.

In service, the nosing is also the earliest maintenance indicator. When nosings change colour, wear shiny or develop fine cracks along the edge, that is a sign to plan local repairs for the staircase, rather than waiting until the whole staircase has deteriorated before recoating. Repairing nosings early usually costs less labour than recoating the whole staircase, and more importantly it reduces the risk of slips and falls while waiting for the repair.

3. Anti-slip on steps: enough grip, still cleanable

Anti-slip on staircases is a balancing act. A surface that is too smooth is dangerous when wet; a surface that is too aggressively rough traps dirt, is hard to clean and is uncomfortable for people in bare feet or soft shoes in some facilities. The practical requirement is: enough grip for wet shoes, but still cleanable, without wearing out shoe soles too quickly.

On anti-slip aggregates, the article Anti-Slip Epoxy Floors: Quartz Sand or Aluminium Oxide Grit? has compared the general properties of quartz sand and aluminium oxide grit on floors in general. On staircases, that article needs one extra filter: the aggregate and the broadcast density must be chosen step by step, not for one broad floor area. Steps are narrow and foot force concentrates on a small band, so the same aggregate can feel different on a flat floor and on a step. The right roughness level for staircases, the grit size and the specific broadcast density must be checked against the technical documentation of the coating system chosen, and trialled on a few steps before coating the whole staircase.

One point specific to outdoor staircases or staircases near entrances: rainwater and sand tracked in on shoes change grip over time. A rough surface whose texture fills with sand and dust will gradually become slippery even if it initially met the requirement. The staircase cleaning plan is therefore part of the anti-slip solution, not an afterthought: sweeping and mopping frequency and the timing of grip re-checks should be agreed at handover.

4. Nosing warning markings: let people see the step before they step on it

On staircases, accidents usually do not happen because people do not know there is a staircase, but because they cannot tell where one step ends and the next begins — especially when the staircase and the walls share one colour tone, lighting is poor, or the person is carrying a load that blocks their view of their feet.

Nosing warning markings solve exactly this: a contrasting strip running along the nosing of each step, helping the eye pick out the edge of every step even at a glance. The marking colour must contrast clearly with the step colour, and the colour convention must be consistent across the whole staircase — not yellow markings on one staircase, white on another, markings on one floor and none on the next. Inconsistency forces people to relearn the convention at every staircase, precisely when they need the fastest reactions.

Nosing markings differ from factory floor zone markings. The article Line Marking and Zone Painting for Factory Floors explains how to draw up a zone layout, separate forklift routes and walkways on a broad floor area. On staircases, markings do not separate traffic flows but mark each step; the marking width, its durability under repeated footsteps and how to paint it so it does not peel with the nosing are separate requirements, which should be written into the staircase scope of work rather than copied from flat-floor marking specifications.

Beyond nosing markings, lighting at the staircase should be checked before finalising the marking colour. A marking that contrasts well in daylight can fade under yellow evening lighting, and vice versa. If the staircase is an escape route, the markings and the escape signage need to be considered together, under the fire safety regulations that apply to the specific building — this article does not replace those regulations, but notes that epoxy coating and nosing markings must sit inside one safety plan, not be done in isolation.

5. Pedestrian walkways: separate people from vehicles, clearly, with colour and markings

A walkway inside a factory, warehouse or basement is not the floor area left over after racking and vehicle routes have been laid out. It is a route used regularly by pedestrians, and its safety depends on whether pedestrians and forklifts can see each other’s boundaries.

The first principle is to separate flows at the layout drawing stage: walkways separated from forklift routes wherever possible, inbound and outbound goods flows not crossing where possible, and the points where people and vehicles meet — doorways, blind corners, staircase exits — identified in advance, not left for pedestrians to discover as a vehicle approaches. Detailed zone layout is covered in the floor marking and zoning article mentioned above; this article focuses on what comes after the layout is fixed: how a walkway keeps that boundary in daily use.

On a walkway, paint colour is a signal, not just decoration. A dedicated walkway colour, consistent across the whole facility, helps a newcomer recognise the safe route at once without anyone guiding them. The walkway colour must be distinguishable from the goods storage colour, the vehicle route colour and prohibited-area colours. When the walkway colour matches or nearly matches the surrounding areas, the boundary exists only on the drawing, not in the eyes of the people walking.

Walkway edge markings also need maintenance as a separate item. Trolleys, pallets placed over the line and scrubber-dryer cleaning can all fade the edge markings over time. As the edge markings fade, pedestrians gradually drift into the vehicle route and vehicles gradually drift into the walkway, until the separation exists only on paper. The walkway edge inspection schedule should be tied to the staircase nosing inspection schedule: the same inspection round, the same list of faded spots to repaint, rather than waiting for a full-floor recoat.

6. Choosing a coating system for staircases and walkways: ask the right questions before deciding

Kadier currently offers four coating systems: RollCoat, LevelFlow, StatGuard and AquaBase. Which system suits staircases and walkways cannot be decided from names alone; the actual conditions of each location must be checked against the technical documentation of the specific system.

The questions to answer before finalising a system for staircases and walkways include: is the staircase indoors or outdoors, and is it regularly exposed to water; does the walkway carry forklifts or only pedestrians and light trolleys; does the area have specific anti-static or chemical resistance requirements; is the staircase substrate new concrete, old concrete or previously coated; and how long can the staircase be closed for application and curing. Each answer rules out some options and narrows the suitable range.

For staircases, ask additionally: does the nosing need a coating with higher wear and impact resistance than the tread, and what is that system’s anti-slip solution for steps — which aggregate, applied how, cleaned how. For walkways, ask additionally: does the colour range allow the walkway to be separated from vehicle routes and storage areas, and can the edge markings be applied with the same system or do they need a separate marking material. If the system’s technical documentation cannot answer these questions, that is a sign to request more information before application, rather than guessing from the general properties of epoxy.

7. Staircase application: the points that differ from flat floors and belong in the scope of work

This article does not repeat the overall application process — the framework from survey to acceptance inspection is covered in Standard Epoxy Flooring Installation Process, from Survey to Handover. Below are only the points that the staircase and walkway scope of work needs to state additionally, so that when quotations are compared and acceptance is checked, the project owner does not have to guess.

First, the staircase application sequence: whether to work from the top floor down or the reverse, whether to work in alternating sections so that one route always remains open, or to close the whole staircase during application. This decision directly affects facility operations and must be agreed in advance, not left to the application team to decide on the first working day.

Second, the risers (the vertical faces between treads) and the undersides of handrails and balustrades. Coating the treads but leaving the risers bare creates a half-finished staircase, with dust collecting at the joints and difficulty cleaning. The scope should state whether risers are coated, and how the junctions between steps and walls, and steps and balustrades, are treated.

Third, the curing time and return-to-service time for each step. A staircase returned to service before the coating is hard enough will pick up shoe prints on the treads and wear the nosings from the very first week. The specific curing time depends on the system, temperature and humidity at the time of application, so it must be taken from the technical documentation of the chosen system and recorded in the handover report, rather than applying one generic figure to every project.

Fourth, staircase acceptance inspection should check step by step, not by area as for flat floors. The acceptance checklist should include: whether nosings are evenly coated, whether warning markings are present on every step with a consistent colour, how wet grip performs on sampled steps, and whether walkways are clearly separated from vehicle routes at crossing points. Step-by-step acceptance catches a faulty step for local repair at once, instead of a general acceptance followed by disputes over a few defective steps.

8. Maintaining staircases and walkways after handover

Staircases and walkways deteriorate in their own way: nosings wear down, nosing markings fade, walkway edge markings get encroached upon. Maintenance should therefore focus on those three spots, with inspection frequency based on actual foot traffic — the main staircase of a busy factory needs checking more often than a little-used secondary staircase.

Cleaning epoxy-coated staircases should avoid aggressive cleaners and overly harsh scrubbing tools that wear the coating and nosing markings faster. When a step starts to wear or a section of edge marking fades, local touch-up should be done early, limited to that step or that marking section, rather than waiting for a full recoat. Timely local repair preserves the continuity of the warning system — one faded section is enough to disorient a person at exactly that section.

Finally, every local staircase repair or walkway remarking should be recorded: which location was repaired, with which system, on which date. This repair record means the next recoat does not have to start surveying from scratch, and helps distinguish normal wear locations from locations that fail repeatedly because of a weak substrate or a wrong system choice — two causes that need completely different remedies.

A note on specifications

Official technical data (TDS) for each Kadier product is published on the Products page; this article sets out a general framework and does not replace the TDS of a specific product. This article therefore gives no technical specification for any specific Kadier system — no coating thickness, adhesion, hardness, anti-slip coefficient or drying time under a specific Kadier system name.

The content in this article about the general properties of epoxy materials — for example that nosings wear more than flat surfaces, that a rough surface increases wet grip, or that contrasting markings help step recognition — describes general material properties and principles of use, not confirmed performance commitments for a specific Kadier system. The actual performance of each system, including application thickness, suitable anti-slip aggregate, drying time and application conditions, can only be confirmed against that system’s TDS and application guide when Kadier publishes them, or by written confirmation from Kadier for the specific project.

When requesting a quotation or carrying out acceptance inspection, project owners should ask the supplier to state the specification basis for staircases and walkways: which system, which technical document, which application conditions. A quotation that only says “epoxy staircase coating” in general, without the system and the specification basis, will be hard to check at step-by-step acceptance, and hard to assign responsibility for when nosings wear earlier than expected.

Conclusion

Epoxy coating for staircases and walkways is not a small extra area of flat floor. Staircases need durable nosings, visible warning markings and stable wet grip; walkways need a clear boundary with vehicle routes, a consistent dedicated colour and regularly maintained edge markings. Done right on those three groups of tasks, staircases and walkways become the safest parts of the facility instead of the overlooked weak points. If you are preparing to coat a staircase or lay out a walkway for your factory, warehouse or building, please contact Kadier for advice and a quotation based on an actual survey of your facility’s staircases and walkways.