How To: Mix Sand with Paint for Non-Slip Surfaces

Hello, my friend, hello again; today we come together to talk about How To: Mix Sand with Paint for Non-Slip Surfaces and hope the blog can help you.

Prevent accidents on outdoor floors and other surfaces with a gritty, traction-lending mixture of paint and sand. Here’s how.

Slippery when wet! Those words of caution may be most familiar in the context of hospital and airport floors, but they also apply to porch stairs and backyard decking.  Rain, sleet, ice, snow, and even soil on surfaces can cause the poor traction that leads to slips, trips, and falls in outdoor environments. So why not undertake a painting project to make your outdoor spaces—from a concrete patio to a wooden porch—less dangerous and more enjoyable. The secret ingredient? Sand!

Though non-slip paint formulas may be available at your local home center or hardware store , you can save money and achieve the same result with this helpful hack a devout DIYer is likely to appreciate.

Use the Right Sort of Sand

Simple as this DIY formula is to mix and use, for maximum effectiveness, use the right kind of sand. Resist the temptation to dig your fill of free sand from the beach or sandy soil from your backyard. Such sand can contain impurities likely to negatively impact the paint and leave you with a clumpy mess. Keep in mind, too, that coarser sand provides better traction than finer sand.  Play sand—the sort sold for crafts and children’s sandboxes—is clean enough and coarse enough for this project.

Use the Proper Kind of Paint

Don’t break out that can left over from your last wall painting project or concoct a formula of your own. For this job, you’ll get best results with floor paint—or, ideally for an outdoor product, a specially formulated porch paint. Wall paints simply aren’t tough enough for the heavy traffic floors and stairs experience. A quality porch paint, typically suitable for wood and concrete, will also be mildew-resistant.