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Mike Davied
Mike Davied is the owner & operator of Mikes Repair & Fabrication LLC located in Frontenac, KS. He has been repairing equipment for 40 years and has ran his own business for 20 years. For more information or to contact Mike please call 620-235-0061.
Steel Fabrication
2013-04-29 16:12:09
Fixing unusable stairs
Q-I read, with much delight your article on stairs and I was wondering if you can help me with a problem I'm having. I own a shop with a lube pit and the stairs are basically unusable because they are unsafe, can you help me?
A-I hope my readers don't tar & feather me for another stair column, so here goes. I HAVE built several sets of stairs for an application as you refer, so I can help you out. In order to finish this in some order I'm going to be quite generic, & I'll answer specific questions personally, thank you. 1) Build stairs from something VERY strong, I prefer steel. 2) When I think STAIRS my first thought is NON slip, so expanded metal is always a great choice in any industrial setting, for treads. 3) Using steel for stairs & painting them helps to ensure a very long life, ensuring safety. 4) Find out how your workman’s comp feels about your property. 5) Check out your local building codes for ingress & egress, as in access to different parts of your facility. 6) Building codes will tell your stair pitch, rise to run,,,I prefer a 6-12 stair as it is much easier to use than steeper stairs in high traffic areas. 7) Build your stairs for ease of use & maintenance, as anything that is easily taken care of will be!!! 8) By maintenance I mean cleaning & repair, what's easier to clean than a painted steel stair? This can be done with a simple pressure washer rinse & run. Have a great month everybody, till the next round of questions.
 
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