Staircase Tiles — Treads, Risers, Nosings and Landings

The nosing does the work

Going up a flight, the ball of the foot lands on the front 50 millimetres of each tread. Coming down — which is when falls happen — the heel strikes that same edge. That narrow strip takes essentially all of the wear and all of the safety burden on a staircase, and it is where a tiled stair either works or fails.

Three things have to be right. The edge must have grip when wet, which means a grooved anti-slip profile rated R11 on any external or public stair. It must be visually distinct, so the user can see where each step ends — a contrasting nosing strip or a tonal change, which matters enormously for older users and is a requirement in most accessibility codes. And it must not chip, which is why full body porcelain is specified: when a nosing does take a knock, the exposed material is the same colour as the surface and the damage is invisible.

A glazed tile fails on that last point. A chipped glaze on a stair nosing shows as a bright white mark at exactly eye level, on every step, and there is no way to repair it.

Step & riser tile range · Full step & riser guide

Measuring and ordering a staircase

1. Measure the going. The horizontal depth of each step from nosing to riser. A 300 mm tread suits a going of 290 to 305 mm; deeper stairs need the 330 mm tread.
2. Measure the rise. The vertical height of each step. It must be at or under 200 mm for the standard riser tile; taller risers need cutting or a custom size.
3. Measure the width. A 1200 mm tile covers most domestic flights in one piece. Wider stairs take two pieces with a centred joint.
4. Count the steps. Include the top step if it is tiled as a tread rather than absorbed into the landing.
5. Choose the nosing. Grooved anti-slip for external and public stairs; bullnose for interior domestic flights.
6. Add ten per cent. For cutting, breakage and future repairs — a top-up order later will not shade-match.
7. Specify the landing. Usually a field tile from the same range so the whole stairwell reads as one material.

Common mistakes

• Cutting field tiles instead of buying a set — the cut edge exposes the pale body as a light line along every step, and the waste makes it no cheaper.
• Using a polished tile — a gloss stair is dangerous, indoors as well as out.
• Ordering treads and risers separately — they will not shade-match, and the mismatch is at eye level.
• No visual contrast at the nosing — a uniform flight is hard to read, particularly descending in poor light.
• Forgetting the top step — it is easily missed in the count and always noticed when it is short.
• Fitting risers after treads — risers go on first, then the tread overlaps the top of the riser, so no joint faces upward to collect water.

Frequently asked questions