A staircase is a civil or structural construction item that is designed for a building or for any elevated place with large level difference. This concept is meant for going up and down of a building conveniently. The construction of staircase is done in a way that overall elevated part is made up of number of steps. Staircase is made up of variety of designs, namely straight, round, or sometimes comprise of two or more straight sections connected at such an angle that is not too steep.
Staircases are made in innovative design and you can decorate your staircase with some glass balustrades. Earlier, people used to design their staircase with hard wood. But they are not suitable for adverse weather and you need to spend huge maintenance amounts on them. In this case, it is better to choose the staircases made with metals or concrete.
How would you design your staircases?
There are alternative to stairs also that includes escalators, ladders, stair lifts, as well as moving walkways. A stair step is a single step in a flight of stairs. In buildings this means a complete series of steps that are connecting two different floors. A staircase means multiple numbers of steps for going up and down the floors.
- Treads: It is the part of the staircase on which steps are placed and constructed, like thickness. The depth is measured from outer edge of the step.
- Riser: It is the vertical part in between each Tread on the staircase.
- Nosing: It is the edge part of each support over the riser beneath.
- Bullnose: for stairs that are open in both sides, the first step is made wider than other steps and made in round pattern. This is called bullnose.
- Stringer: It is the structural member that rises in standard staircases.
- Winder: These are the steps which are narrower on one side than the other side and are used to change the direction of the staircase.
- Trim: Various mouldings are used for decoration of stairs and are termed as Trim.
- Handrails: This is the railings which are angled portion made for hand holding. This may be in one side or both the sides based on the design of the building. Today, you can find different kinds of balustrades that are made with glass, and you can choose any one according to your preferences.
How to take measurements of the staircases?
The measurement of a staircase, particularly the rise height and is going up step should be kept same all over. The staircase measurement as stated below is important to be followed while designing the same:
- The rise: rise of each step from the top to the next step. This is not the physical height of the riser and excludes the thickness of the tread.
- The tread depth: This is measured from the age of the nosing from the vertical riser.
- The going: This is measured from the end of the nosing to the edge of the nosing as shown in the plan. To avoid misunderstanding and confusion the number of steps is kept equal to the number of risers.
- Total run: This is the horizontal distance from the first riser to the last riser
- The total rise: it is the total height in between floors from landing.
- The slope: This is the ration between rise and going and sometimes termed as rake of the staircase.
- Head room: This is the height above the nosing of a tread.
For safety purposes a staircase must follow certain measurements so that people can comfortably use those. This is called Ergonomics. To choose the staircase designs, you can search them online.
