McNichols Aluminum Grating and Stair Treads: A 7-Step Ordering Checklist

If you've ever been handed a one-line request that says “need metal grating” and you're the person who has to turn that into an actual order, this is for you. I'm an office administrator for a 280-person industrial services company. I manage roughly $400,000 in annual purchasing—maybe $420,000, give or take—across about 15 vendors. I process around 70 orders a year, mostly maintenance and facility supplies, and I report to both operations and finance. When I took over purchasing in 2020, I assumed every vendor with a good website could handle a simple grating order. I was wrong.

For the last three years, McNichols aluminum grating and McNichols stair treads have been part of my routine. Not because I'm a structural engineer, but because somebody has to make sure the right product shows up on the right job site. This checklist has seven steps. It's not a substitute for engineering review, but it covers the practical side of ordering.

When to use this checklist

Use it when you know, or have been told, that you need aluminum grating or stair treads for a commercial or industrial facility. That could be a walkway, a mezzanine, a drainage cover, or a set of retrofit steps. It works for standard catalog items and for cut-to-size McNichols products.

It is not for adhesive remover or wallpaper glue. If you're looking up how to remove wallpaper glue, this is not your article. McNichols doesn't sell adhesive remover, and “coupe glass” is drinkware, not industrial metal. No judgment—wrong category. Getting the product category wrong is the first and most expensive way to ruin a purchase.

Step 1: Confirm you need grating, not stair treads

It sounds basic, but I once placed an order for “grating” when the facility team actually needed McNichols stair treads. Both are McNichols products, but not interchangeable. Aluminum grating is a flat panel used for walkways, platforms, and drainage. A McNichols stair tread is a single step unit with nosing and edges designed for a stair system. If you order grating and then cut it into steps, you lose the engineered edge and the slip resistance you paid for.

Take it from someone who had to explain that mistake to finance: verify the application before you start comparing prices.

Step 2: Get the bearing bar specs, not just the sheet size

The expensive mistake is fixating on length and width and ignoring bearing bar depth, thickness, and serration. Those numbers determine whether the panel can handle its span without deflecting. NAAMM's metal bar grating manual is a starting point for loading tables, but I still ask an engineer to confirm.

For McNichols aluminum grating, the catalog will list things like 1-1/4 x 1/4 bearing bars, 1-3/4 x 3/16, and so on. The bar depth drives the load capacity. If you don't know the required span and load, you don't know the bar depth. A supplier can guess, but you don't want a guess on a walkway over a pit.

I'm not an engineer, so I pull the span information from the drawings and ask our engineer to confirm the bar size before I call anyone. This step is not optional, even for a maintenance order.

Step 3: Choose the right material and finish

McNichols aluminum grating is common because it's lighter and more corrosion-resistant than steel. But “aluminum” is not one thing. 6061-T6 is the typical structural grade, and there are other alloy/finish combinations. If the area is wet, coastal, or near chemicals, the finish matters as much as the alloy.

OSHA's stairway standard, 29 CFR 1910.25, addresses tread dimensions and slip resistance for general industry stairs. That's the kind of requirement that affects whether you need a serrated surface or a different nosing profile. Verify the current language on the OSHA website before you specify, and then put the finished product choice in writing.

If you need a serrated surface for slip resistance, say so. If you need a specific mill finish or a protective coating, put it in writing. Don't assume the salesperson will read your mind.

The same logic applies to stair treads. McNichols stair treads come in different widths, lengths, and surface options. A standard tread for a maintenance stair is not the same as one engineered for a public egress path. Know which one you need.

Step 4: Verify dimensions against the actual opening

This is the step that gets skipped. The opening is not the same as the grating dimension. You need to account for support bearing, rim angles, and the gap around the panel. If your opening is 24 inches by 36 inches, the grating panel is usually not exactly 24 by 36. There may be a 1/2-inch clearance on each side, or a bearing seat. Ordering the exact opening size because it sounds right is how you end up with a panel that rocks.

I learned this from a job where the field measurement was perfect and the panel was still wrong. Turns out the support steel took up two inches on one side. Nobody had marked it on the cut sheet.

Step 5: Check standard sizes before asking for a custom cut

McNichols can cut to size, and that's genuinely useful. But a custom cut usually costs more and adds lead time. In some cases, you're better off ordering a standard stock panel and trimming it on site—or designing around a standard module.

I'm not saying avoid custom fabrication. I'm saying compare the total cost before you default to it. The stock panel that gives you six inches of waste can still be less expensive than a custom panel with zero waste, once you add the handling fee.

This is where the “we do everything” vendors lose me. A good supplier will tell you when a standard product will work. That honesty is why I keep going back.

Step 6: Get lead time in writing

Vague promises are the enemy of facility work. “About two weeks” from a salesperson can mean three and a half by the time it ships. I started asking for a specific ship date and a specific carrier before I place the order. If they can't commit, I know it's a risk.

As of January 2025, McNichols lists stock availability for many standard items, but lead time still depends on the product line and your ship-to location. Verify at the time of your quote. Don't rely on a cached webpage from 2024.

And don't assume “expedited” means what you think it means. Expedited creates a different workflow and a different price. If you need it on a date, the only number that matters is the confirmed in-hand date, not the promised release date.

Step 7: Make sure the invoice and paperwork are clean

This is the one I never see on other checklists. A vendor can deliver a perfect grating panel, but if the invoice doesn't match the purchase order, your accounting team will bounce it. I've had that happen with a supplier who sent a handwritten receipt for $3,400 of material, and finance rejected the expense. The material was already installed by then, but I had to go back and chase a corrected invoice. It was a mess.

When I consolidated vendors in 2024, I cut our list from 18 to 12. One criterion was invoicing reliability. Before the order goes through, ask: Will I get a proper invoice with the purchase order number, line items, and the correct product description? If the answer is hesitant, that's a red flag.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Ordering by model number alone. Numbers overlap across brands. Confirm the manufacturer and the current catalog.
• Ignoring the bearing bar direction. Grating carries its load along the bearing bars. If you rotate it 90 degrees, it may collapse.
• Skipping the delivery plan. Long panels don't fit in a normal box truck. Check access and unloading before choosing your carrier.
• Assuming one product can handle everything. That's not how engineered metal works. If someone quotes you a stair tread for a bridge grating job, run.

What this checklist is not

I have to be honest here because “we can do anything for anyone” is a trap. McNichols is excellent at industrial metal products. It is not the right provider for removing wallpaper glue, choosing an adhesive remover, or finding a coupe glass for a bar. Those are specialty purchases with their own suppliers. Coming to an industrial metal supplier for wallcovering removal is like asking an engineer to install a kitchen backsplash—they might manage, but it's not the right call.

The same principle applies inside the McNichols catalog: don't use aluminum grating where fiberglass grating is the better choice for chemical resistance, and don't use a decorative screen panel where a welded bar grating is required by code. If you're not sure, get the engineering guidance first.

Bottom line

Ordering McNichols aluminum grating and McNichols stair treads comes down to five questions: Is it a grate or a stair tread, what are the bearing bar specs, what material and finish, what dimensions match the real opening, and when will it actually arrive? Handle those, and the order will probably go fine.

If your search started with “something industrial” but you're actually trying to remove wallpaper glue or source a coupe glass, stop and verify the product category. It will save you a lot of frustration—and the inevitable restocking fee. At least, that's been my experience.