Material:
Since your outdoor rubber stair treads will be used for added safety around your home or business, you want to ensure the material is durable and long lasting. Looking for heavy duty materials such as recycled tire rubber, neoprene rubber, and other types of outdoor rubber or rubber-like material is a great start. You want a rubber that can stand up to direct sunlight, hot and cold temperatures without warping, cracking, or splintering. You also want a material that can be used regularly over a long period of time, since nothing is worse than having to replace your stair treads every few months.
Size:
Stair treads can come in a wide range of sizes. If you are looking for a stair cover, you will want to get a tread that is around 1 inch larger than your stair on each side. This will allow the material to be wrapped over the edge and secured, to prevent any possible fraying or lifting at that area. If you are looking for treads that attach on top of an existing step, having a large amount of the normal stair material showing along each of the sides is fine. Most top-applying stair treads will be glued, stapled, or secured with a very strong adhesive to keep them in place even with heavy foot traffic.
Style:
You can normally find a few different styles of stair treads. The simple and minimalistic approach would be a few small strips of material that stick or glue to the top of a wooden step, for example. These can be used indoors or outdoors, but are simply to add a small amount of extra traction without taking away the overall aesthetic of the staircase itself. For a larger and more full-coverage solution, you can get thick rubber caps that cover the entire stair. These can be in colors, and will have a variety of different traction designs such as diamonds, crosshatch, circles, honeycomb, and more.
Color:
While most stair treads will come in black or dark gray, there are some instances where you can select your color. Most recycled rubber and neoprene rubber stair treads can be dyed to almost any color imaginable. This allows you to find a stair tread that not only appeals to your visual senses, but matches or blends with your existing staircase and surrounding decor. If you want a more natural approach, you can find rubber stair treads in various shades of gray, brown, tan, and beige to look aesthetically pleasing on metal, brick, stone, or wooden stairs around your home or business.