Non Slip Decking

I grew up around decks. I’m currently staying in a family owned place, my grandmother’s old house, and can see two of our decks out the window.

One is a massive deck that connects two houses on the property and is shared, and the other is a smallish deck connected to the back stairs that my parents like to sit on in the afternoon. Neither are built with decking specifically described as non slip decking, and I'll describe what we do for safety later.

Decks are great, but since they are outside and exposed to the elements, there are issues. Decks require regular upkeep and maintenance. Also, since they are outside, they are more likely to get covered with debris, for example leaves in the fall, and they get wet all the time. This can make them very slippery and dangerous at times, hence the need for non slip decking.

Decking we’ll describe as the top of the deck, the part you step on. Non slip decking and decks are important, so let’s look at what materials are commonly used for decking.

Most common is wood. Both lumber and plywood is used, although plywood is less common in my experience, and neither are inherently anti slip. Standard lumber sizes for decking (according to the Home Dept Website) are 5/4” by 6” as well as 2x4 and 2x6 (standard 2x4s are actually 1.5” by 3.5” and standard 2x6s are actually 1.5” by 5.5” – don’t ask me why, it’s always been this way, and the 5/4” by 6” is actually 1” by 5.5”).

Various synthetic and composite materials are also available, for example Fiberon Veranda, an environmentally friendly composite material with a textured surface with non slip properties. It’s even more slip resistant when wet! Other synthetics include Trex Deck, Evergran Decking, Lattitudes Decking, and LockDry Decking. These all are non slip decking although sometimes they may use a similar term like “slip resistant.”

Well, the question is, since most people use lumber for decking, what do you do for safety to prevent slipping? Here is what we do with our standard lumber built decks, then we’ll mention other options.

In front of the doors, and the big deck has several, we have standard Welcome Mats which are all non slip. In front of the stairs on the big deck, since people can and do gather speed (especially running children), we have Non Slip Tape which continues onto the stair treads themselves.

We do not do anything on the majority of the surface of the deck itself as we haven’t found it necessary here. However there are multiple non slip coatings that can be applied to make the decking non slip if required. One example is Quikrete Anti-Skid Textured Coating although there are many varieties available both online and at your local hardware or home improvement stores.