Solid Brass Stair Nosing 59.5mm Tread, 30mm Square Front | Cut to Size

A solid brass stair nosing with a 59.5mm tread and a 30mm square front, machined from CZ108 brass to BS EN 12164 in a 5mm gauge. It is cut to your measurement, so each step is covered by a single unbroken length with no joints across the walking line. Choose the brass finish, the insert that sits in its channel, and whether it arrives plain or pre-drilled.

The front face drops straight down over the riser for 30mm. That is a deliberately shallow face: it covers and protects the step edge and gives a crisp, square shadow line, without the deep band of metal that a 55mm front puts across the riser. On a domestic staircase, or anywhere the riser is a finish you want to keep visible, the slimmer front is usually the one specified.

Where it works

Domestic staircases, flats and apartment blocks, offices, hotels and shops — anywhere a stair edge needs reinforcing and marking out without a heavy metal band dominating the riser. It is a common choice on refurbishments, where the existing riser finish is staying and only the step edge is being renewed.

The profile butts straight up to the finished floor covering, so it suits timber, concrete and stone stairs alike. On carpeted flights it pairs with a brass naplock edge, which grips the carpet behind the nosing and hides the raw edge. On a retrofit, where you are laying over an existing tread rather than building up to the nosing, a shallow ramp profile behind the channel takes up the difference and removes the trip lip. Both are ordered separately.

Finishes

Four finishes are available, each applied to solid brass rather than plated onto another metal, so the colour runs right through the bar and wears rather than flakes:

• Polished Brass — bright, mirror-like and traditional. The warmest of the four, and the one that reads most clearly as brass from a distance.
• Satin Brass — the same metal given a fine directional grain. It holds the warmth of brass but scatters reflections, so fingerprints and foot traffic show far less.
• Antique Brass — chemically aged to a deeper golden brown with darker relief in the recesses. Suits period staircases and heritage interiors.
• Antique Bronze — the darkest option, a rich brown-bronze that recedes against dark stone, hardwood and painted risers.

Polished and satin brass are supplied unlacquered and will patinate in use; an occasional wipe with brass polish holds the original brightness. The antique finishes are meant to darken further with age, which is part of their character.

Inserts

The single channel takes one insert along the full length. There are three families:

• Castellated PVC — a ribbed profile in twenty-two colours, from neutral greys and stones through to strong reds, blues and greens. The ridges give grip underfoot and the colour range lets you either match the floor covering or deliberately contrast it for visual definition.
• Smooth Textured PVC — a flatter, finely textured surface in four colours. Easier to sweep and mop than a castellated rib, so it is often chosen where cleaning regimes are heavy.
• Brass inserts — a ribbed brass strip in any of the four finishes, for an all-metal nosing with no plastic visible. Specify the same finish as the body for a uniform bar, or a different one for a two-tone edge.
• Olympic Grip — a black carborundum-loaded anti-slip infill. The most aggressive surface of the four, intended for wet or heavily trafficked routes.

Visual contrast and the regulations

Approved Document M and BS 8300 ask for a step edge that is visually distinguishable from the tread and the going. The practical test is a difference in light reflectance value of at least 30 points between the nosing and the surface either side of it, measured across the finished installation. Insert light reflectance values run from single figures on Peat and Claret to the fifties on the palest stones, so it is the insert colour against the floor covering that decides compliance, not the profile. If you tell us the floor finish you are working to, we will confirm which insert colours clear the 30-point difference before you order.

Drilling

Ordered plain, the bar arrives undrilled and can be bonded down with a suitable construction adhesive, or drilled on site to suit your substrate. Ordered drilled, it is countersunk along its length at regular centres ready for screw fixing, which is the more secure option on public stairs and on any flight that will see heavy or repeated loading. Screws and plugs are not included, as the right fixing depends entirely on whether you are going into timber, concrete or screed.

Cutting to size

Enter the length you need between 700mm and 2700mm and the bar is cut to that dimension, with a tolerance of plus or minus 5mm. Price is calculated per metre, so the figure shown updates as you set the length. Measure the full tread width, less any string or wall trim the nosing should stop short of. Where a flight is wider than 2700mm, order two lengths and butt them at a centre joint. Cut lengths are made to your measurement and cannot be returned unless faulty, so it is worth checking the figure twice before ordering.