Heavy Duty Rakeback Aluminium Stair Nosing | R11 | 60 x 32mm | 5 Insert Colours

This is the profile you specify when a staircase has to take institutional traffic for twenty years. It is a 5 mm aluminium extrusion — not a folded strip — screwed down onto the step nose, with a single recessed channel carrying a replaceable anti-slip insert. The rakeback version has a leg that slopes back as it drops over the riser, rather than hanging vertically. Specifiers reach for it on carpeted commercial stairs; facilities managers like that when the insert wears out the aluminium stays put and only the insert is replaced. Mill finish as standard, four lengths, twenty insert colours behind the four listed here.

Why it works

Rakeback is a fitting decision, not a style choice

The raked leg follows a step whose nose is not a clean right angle — a poured concrete stair with a rounded arris, or a tread screeded level. It also reduces how far the profile projects into the riser. If your steps are square and true, the straight-back profile in the same family is the correct and cheaper choice.

The gauge is the whole point

At 5 mm the extrusion takes trolley wheels and two decades of footfall without the leading edge deforming. Thin nosings fail by lifting at the nose, turning a safety product into a trip hazard. The trade-off is honest: this is heavy, screw-fixed, and fitting it is a drilling job.

The insert is the wearing part — and it is replaceable

The anti-slip strip sits in a machined channel rather than on the surface, so its edges are protected and it covers the countersunk screw heads. It can be changed without disturbing the aluminium or the floor covering — which is why “Channel Only” is listed: it is what you order when refurbishing an existing run.

Where it is used

School and university circulation stairs, healthcare corridors, office stair cores, hotel and retail staircases, communal stairs in apartment blocks, and industrial steps. It is the standard answer wherever a commercial stair has to satisfy an access audit and then survive the traffic.

Specifications

Slip resistance — tested figures

Both classify as R11 and both sit in the low slip-potential band on the pendulum (36+). The standard insert returns the higher pendulum values; Tredsafe® is for surfaces facing UV, oil, grease, salt or dilute acids, being a silica-quartz compound with a polyurethane coating rather than plain PVC.

Light reflectance values

Choosing the right option

Start with contrast, not appearance. Approved Document K and BS 8300-2:2018 expect the nosing to be distinguishable from the tread. The usual working rule is a difference of around 30 LRV points against the adjacent covering. Take your covering’s LRV and pick an insert far enough from it: black (4.5) or midnight grey (12.8) against a pale floor, white (79.9) or yellow (55.7) against a dark one. Yellow is the conventional high-visibility choice.

Then the insert grade. Standard PVC for dry internal stairs. Tredsafe® where the stair is exposed to weather, chemicals or heavy contamination.

Then the length. Order the next length up from the flight width and cut down, or send us the exact width and we will cut and drill to your setting-out.

Installation, use and care

Fixing is mechanical, so the substrate has to take a plug. Check the steps are clean, dry and level, mark through the pre-drilled holes, then drill and plug. Apply adhesive to the underside of the profile, set it to the step nose and screw down with countersunk fixings, then press the insert home so it covers the screw heads. Cut with a fine-tooth blade and deburr. In service, clean inserts with a neutral detergent, rinse and dry before traffic returns. Clean the aluminium with a cloth or fine steel wool. Never use solvent cleaners on the channel, and note that organic solvents will soften a Tredsafe® insert.

Common questions

Rakeback or straight-back — which do I need?
Look at the step nose. Square and true takes a straight-back profile. A rounded, chamfered or out-of-square arris takes the rakeback, which sits down onto the irregular edge instead of bridging it.

Which colour will pass an access audit?
That depends on your floor, not on the nosing alone. Use the LRV table above against your covering’s published LRV and aim for roughly 30 points of separation. We cannot certify the outcome — contrast is assessed on the finished stair.

Is R11 enough for an entrance stair?
R11 with a wet PTV of 54 is a strong result for an internal stair. If the steps are genuinely exposed to rain or wash-down, specify the Tredsafe® insert for its chemical and UV resistance rather than for a higher slip class.

Can I have it cut and drilled?
Yes. Send the finished stair width and your fixing centres. Cut and drilled lengths are made to your specification and cannot be returned.

What is “Channel Only”?
The bare extrusion with no insert fitted. Order it when you are replacing inserts in an existing run, or when you want to specify the insert separately.

Ordering and delivery

Order one length per step, taking the next standard length above your flight width. Connector and extender profiles for joining runs across wide stairs are available in 3.22 m lengths. Pricing a whole building? Send the stair schedule and we will work the take-off with you.