Outdoor stairs are a long game. The original tile stairs at my front entrance were installed sometime in the late nineties and had been slowly losing the battle against freeze-thaw cycles ever since. By the time I addressed them, three tiles were cracked through and two had begun to lift.
The repair was always going to happen. The LED stair lighting was my idea.
The problem with the original stairs
Standard outdoor tile installation relies on a mortar bed and proper drainage to survive Canadian winters. The original work had neither — water was getting under the tiles, freezing, and lifting them from below. This was a slow process across decades, but by 2024 it had become a safety issue.
The remediation meant tearing out all twelve treads and starting over with proper membrane waterproofing, a slight drainage slope, and modern large-format porcelain tile rated for freeze-thaw.
Adding the lighting
Once the stairs were going to be rebuilt anyway, adding LED lighting was an obvious upgrade. The design: a routed channel in the concrete riser face at each step, waterproof LED strip inside, covered with a frosted aluminum extrusion. The result is clean, subtle, and visible from the street.
The electrical
Outdoor LED lighting that integrates with Home Assistant requires waterproof connections, a weatherproof junction box, and an ESPHome controller rated for the environment. I used a Wemos D1 Mini in a Polycase enclosure mounted inside the soffit — protected from direct weather, accessible for maintenance.
The lights do two things: come on at sunset (via Home Assistant automation), and dim to 10% at midnight. Simple and effective.
Twelve steps, twelve lights, zero issues in the six months since installation.