Danny Lipford: Anytime you have wood outside—whether it’s a set of steps like this, or a wood deck, or a walkway—sooner or later it’s going to get dirty and that means it’s going to get slick and ...

Q. A few years ago, I removed the carpeting from two flights of stairs and replaced it with maple hardwood. They look beautiful, but they’re very slippery. A few months ago, I fell down the stairs and ...

Q: Our front steps have a tiled surface that gets very slippery in rain or snow. We have thought of putting anti-skid tape on them, but it just doesn’t look good. Any other ideas? A: The grit-covered ...

Q. My outdoor wood steps are getting slimy and slippery from algae, the green stain that grows on them. How can I keep algae off the steps and also keep the steps from being so slippery? A. First, ...