Outdoor steel stairs. Galvanized, weather-grade, built for the Ontario climate.
Exterior access stairs for warehouses, mechanical platforms, loading docks, and tank tops — hot-dip galvanized to CSA G164, with tread and guard options sized for snow, water, and de-icing salt exposure. Same engineering bench as our interior stair work, with the finish and detail choices that matter outside.
Access, not always egress.
Not every outdoor stair is part of a building's exit path. Most of the outdoor stair work we do is service access — to a rooftop unit, an exterior mechanical platform, a tank-top inspection point, or a loading dock. The structural and finish requirements are the same as an exterior egress stair, but the code review is lighter where occupant load isn't a factor. Where the stair does carry an occupant-load path, see egress staircases or fire escape stairs — the design defaults shift accordingly.
Configurations we build
- Roof access stairs — to RTUs, mechanical platforms, or rooftop service routes.
- Loading-dock service stairs — galvanized stairs to grade alongside a dock or trailer-side.
- Tank and silo access — to tank-top fittings, silo cap-deck, or process equipment platforms. Often paired with a cage ladder for the upper segment.
- Exterior platform / catwalk access — stairs serving an outdoor walk platform or service catwalk.
Finish — galvanizing first
For an outdoor stair in Ontario, the default finish is hot-dip galvanized per CSA G164. On a typical inland site without marine or heavy-industrial exposure, galv delivers decades of corrosion protection with no maintenance painting (the AGA service-life chart maps zinc thickness to expected life by exposure category). Powder-coat or a two-coat industrial paint goes on top of the galv when colour is needed for an architectural review — but it goes on top, not instead. Stairs that get only shop primer outdoors don't last; rust starts at the welds within the first season.
Tread choice — bar-grate by default
Bar-grate is the right outdoor tread in nearly every case: snow and meltwater shed through the openings, ice does not pond, the surface remains slip-resistant when wet. Checker-plate looks tidier but traps water and ice in winter — wrong for an outdoor industrial stair. Grip-strut sits in the middle: lighter, drainable, slightly less robust than bar-grate under heavy traffic.
Typical parameters
- Configurationstraight-run / switchback / tower
- Treadbar-grate (default) / grip-strut
- Guard height42" (OBC §3.3.1.18)
- Guard infilltube or square-bar; mesh on request
- Live load4.8 kPa + 1.3 kN concentrated
- Finishhot-dip galvanized, CSA G164 (+ optional powder-coat over)
- Service life40 – 50 years for galv on inland-Ontario sites (per AGA service-life chart, mild-rural exposure)
- Lead time4 – 7 weeks from sign-off
- All steel stairs & industrial stair systems
- Egress staircases — interior code-required exits
- Fire escape stairs — exterior egress retrofit