In the interest of safety for all our TilersForums members and readers i have recently evaluated an item that i believe should be in every tradespersons tool kit along with the dust sheet.
I am sure that over the time that you have been working in houses and have laid the dust sheet down the stairs, you have found that they can be a hazard. They do have a tendency to trip you up and they can also move on the stairs. It was recently mentioned to me that if using dust sheets on stairs that they must be securely fastened.


A simple design that allows the dust sheet to be held in position by lightweight spring loaded poles. These items are very light but not flimsy , a full set is 14 poles and they fit neatly into their own strong bag.
To use these poles i found it best to have the sheet ready at the top of the stairs and roll it down one step at a time while securing each drop with the Safety Stair Rods by compressing the rod and then letting the rod expand to the required width as you work down the stairs. This process takes minutes to do and holds the sheet neatly to the stairs. Each rod is fitted with an end cap and will not mark the paintwork.



Care must be taken that the ends of the rods must sit securely against the stair stringers and not against the sheet itself.



As said before all poles slid nicely into their own hard wearing bag and weigh next to nothing.

They are bright yellow in colour and add to the safety aspect.

While talking to the Safety Stair Rod people i was informed that not one item has been returned due to failure in a year of production.
When you lay your dust sheets out, you are showing the client that you have respect for their property. When you secure the sheets you will be seen as having a high regard for safety. I see that as a good way to be and i am sure brownie points will be given to you by the client.

Now while doing this small review i was thinking that could anything be done to improve the product and while i came up with a few ideas, one being the colour should maybe black and yellow (as in hazard warning). I came to the conclusion that it would only add to the final price and was not nescessary.
So the overall impression i have is a big thumbs up and something i would recommend in everyones tool kit.

But wait!
Ever tiled a floor and wanted to block it off to stop someone carelessly wandering over the still wet tiles or grout ?


Ta Daaaaaaaa !


2 products for the price of one, gotta be good !

If you wish to purchase these, they can be obtained via [mod edit] removed link to supplier, TradeTiler will be stocking this pretty soon thanks to Neale... and the price ??? about £22 + P&P

Nice idea!

Please add to the Poll at the top of this review.

Sorry, didn't even notice the poll!?! lol

Wot a great idea....

thamks Dave,looks good and the way forward ..nice and tidy.

Can everybody see the pics now..?

These look like a great idea - I always have to warn customers about the hazard of my dust sheets on their stairs. The heavy cotton ones dont seem to be quite so slippery as the synthetic ones but I've never seen a cotton stair runner.

Mark

Originally Posted by Mark B

I've never seen a cotton stair runner.

Mark

Don't say i never do anything for ya! TradeTiler Stair Runner

Originally Posted by Sir Ramic

In the interest of safety for all our TilersForums members and readers i have recently evaluated an item that i believe should be in every tradespersons tool kit along with the dust sheet.
I am sure that over the time that you have been working in houses and have laid the dust sheet down the stairs, you have found that they can be a hazard. They do have a tendency to trip you up and they can also move on the stairs. It was recently mentioned to me that if using dust sheets on stairs that they must be securely fastened.


A simple design that allows the dust sheet to be held in position by lightweight spring loaded poles. These items are very light but not flimsy , a full set is 14 poles and they fit neatly into their own strong bag.
To use these poles i found it best to have the sheet ready at the top of the stairs and roll it down one step at a time while securing each drop with the Safety Stair Rods by compressing the rod and then letting the rod expand to the required width as you work down the stairs. This process takes minutes to do and holds the sheet neatly to the stairs. Each rod is fitted with an end cap and will not mark the paintwork.



Care must be taken that the ends of the rods must sit securely against the stair stringers and not against the sheet itself.



As said before all poles slid nicely into their own hard wearing bag and weigh next to nothing.

They are bright yellow in colour and add to the safety aspect.

While talking to the Safety Stair Rod people i was informed that not one item has been returned due to failure in a year of production.
When you lay your dust sheets out, you are showing the client that you have respect for their property. When you secure the sheets you will be seen as having a high regard for safety. I see that as a good way to be and i am sure brownie points will be given to you by the client.

Now while doing this small review i was thinking that could anything be done to improve the product and while i came up with a few ideas, one being the colour should maybe black and yellow (as in hazard warning). I came to the conclusion that it would only add to the final price and was not nescessary.
So the overall impression i have is a big thumbs up and something i would recommend in everyones tool kit.

But wait!
Ever tiled a floor and wanted to block it off to stop someone carelessly wandering over the still wet tiles or grout ?


Ta Daaaaaaaa !


2 products for the price of one, gotta be good !

If you wish to purchase these, they can be obtained via www.ssrods.co.uk and the price ??? about £22 + P&P

Love the rods mate, was it you that thought of the wet-tiled-floor protection? Well done if so mate!

My only concern would be the quantity, counting my stairs I'd have a few steps missing, and buying anther set I'd have most of the second set left over. Though to be fair the bathroom in this house is downstairs and I wouldn't let you near my bedrooms with tiles.

Though it does spark the question, how many stairs do you lot have?

A standard staircase needs 12 of these rods, you get 14 in this set, and if you live a 3 storey house then 2 sets doesn't cost the earth does it...

This is one of the best H&S products i have seen..

Should be available on Tradetiler website soon

Originally Posted by David - Tradetiler

Should be available on Tradetiler website soon

Wish i'd known... Just put an order in to TT lol!

And not a bad price either, many many applications from one tool, great.

Good for TradeTiler and easier for tilers to get a set when placing their orders for other tiling kit

good idea Neale, I was using sticky carpet protector on a roll,£20 for 25m roll.It doesn't take einstein to work out the better value does it!

Top Post cheers! do you have the min-max dimensions of the polls?

Our roll & stroll is 24.95 + VAT for 50m

Originally Posted by doug boardley

good idea Neale, I was using sticky carpet protector on a roll,£20 for 25m roll.It doesn't take einstein to work out the better value does it!

No Doug and too be honest i cant believe something so cheap is such a good idea. If i had seen them and asked to guess the price i think it would have been almost double......

Originally Posted by Colour Republic

Top Post cheers! do you have the min-max dimensions of the polls?

711mm - 1016mm
Remember though that the more you compress, the more tension it creates. I have only tried them on standard stairs so far.

So they are spring loaded not twist locked?

Originally Posted by Colour Republic

So they are spring loaded not twist locked?

Yeah springloaded, i did think if they should twist lock too, but once again its only going to add to the price and something else to break.

seen the lads from british gas use these, thought they were a good idea at the time

sounds like a good idea

Will stick to what im used to
Harris Carpet Protector

first part of every job is check for damage, then lay carpet protector down,sticks to everything,laminates,new deep pile carpets etc.

I've removed the supplier link, as Dave will be stocking this soon it looks like so far.
The post in question is this one: Review: Safety Stair Rods

Originally Posted by Sir Ramic

Yeah springloaded, i did think if they should twist lock too, but once again its only going to add to the price and something else to break.

They look a great product, but I would have two main concerns, as I do a lot of decorating I work on the stairs a lot, which is quite different from just going up and down them. concerns would be:

1) That the rods could be a trip hazard themselves - as you walk down the stairs and the back of you heel catches the bar and rolls your foot forward making you unbalanced.

2) What sort of tension is the bar under? more oftern then not a dust sheet is folded in half then laid up the stairs, so it becomes extra slippy. If the dust sheet starts to slip, is the bar under enough tension it stop the slip or would it pull the bar out?

I'm not trying to pick holes in the product, just like to find out a bit more and seeing as you've used them, you have some idea of how they perform. I'd like to know how strong that spring is. The price of these is great so you can't grumble but my gut feeling is i'd pay an extra £10 if I could get these with twist lock

Originally Posted by Dan

I've removed the supplier link, as Dave will be stocking this soon it looks like so far.
The post in question is this one: Review: Safety Stair Rods

I could get 250M of the harris carpet protector for the same price as 50m of the tiletrader stuff....Does exactly the same job as is avaliable without mail order

Are we not allowed to show and link what we use or are we getting brainwashed to buy from sponsers only?And yes i have bought from tiletrader before with good results!

Originally Posted by Colour Republic

They look a great product, but I would have two main concerns, as I do a lot of decorating I work on the stairs a lot, which is quite different from just going up and down them. concerns would be:

1) That the rods could be a trip hazard themselves - as you walk down the stairs and the back of you heel catches the bar and rolls your foot forward making you unbalanced.

2) What sort of tension is the bar under? more oftern then not a dust sheet is folded in half then laid up the stairs, so it becomes extra slippy. If the dust sheet starts to slip, is the bar under enough tension it stop the slip or would it pull the bar out?

I'm not trying to pick holes in the product, just like to find out a bit more and seeing as you've used them, you have some idea of how they perform. I'd like to know how strong that spring is. The price of these is great so you can't grumble but my gut feeling is i'd pay an extra £10 if I could get these with twist lock

No problem at all with theses questions. As for testing how much tension ??? i dont know how i could explain.
In my test i found them to hold firm enough for me. The dust sheet in the pics was about 4 fold as it was the only one to hand. I would usually use a stair sheet of single ply.
As for the heel moving the rod, well yes i suppose it could but i have size 13s and tried going up and doown the stairs many times and i never caught the rods and the never moved.
All i can do is say how they were for me.
The problem i saw with a twist lock would be that when the rod is placed snugly up against dust sheet is that you wouldnt have much of a grip to twist the rod but i do see that if that feature could be added then it would be a bonus.

Did'nt vote, Have had the safety stair rods for about a 7 months now