The challenge of living with stairs in our homes
Perhaps forced by its minimal dimensions or simply because you wanted it that way, your home project will include a top floor. Everyone will have given their opinion, you haven’t asked for it yet. Gone are the arguments for and against. First reality to assume: the stairs will be part of your daily life, and we will have to see how this coexistence will be.
There is no need to worry more than that. Millions of houses on two floors testify that it is perfectly possible to lead a harmonious life with a staircase. From now on, your only goal should be to learn how to build a staircase that you should never regret.
After so much technological progress and time, the most practical and economical system for bridging a steep slope is still a ladder. We are so used to seeing interior stairs in any home, that one ends up thinking that they are “bought” in any business and installed already built.
In general, we are not usually concerned with how to make a staircase, but rather with deciding on its style or appearance. We do not know that there are a number of issues that we should take into account so that we do not condemn ourselves to suffer the use of the staircase. The construction of a staircase should be in the hands of those who are technically prepared to do so. But this is not always the case.
Tips for Knowing How to Design Interior Stairs
A poorly designed ladder will not be impossible to climb, but that will not hide the fact that it is not comfortable to use. If you are about to embark on the adventure of living in a two-storey house, stay for 5 minutes.
Where to Locate Stairs in a House
Every time someone comes to the studio with their own two-story project drawn on a piece of paper I am surprised to find that usually. When I ask you about this question the answer is usually the same: Aaah, no idea, that’s your problem! And it will be just like that…
It is no coincidence that defining the best location for a staircase is not an easy issue to solve. I can assure you that it often ends up greatly conditioning the use of the house.
There are no magic recipes that can be suggested for the design of stairs that have the strength of an indisputable truth. What works for some people does not work for others, not by a long shot! Regarding where to place the stairs in a house.
Tips on how to design interior stairs with logical criteria:
Stairs near the main entrance
Usual situation, we arrive at the house and we need to go directly to the bedrooms (let’s suppose on the upper floor). It would not be logical to have to go through the whole house to reach the stairs. In that sense, a good location is in the entrance hall, to minimize the routes without invading other rooms.
Stairs within an environment
If the staircase is part of a room (living room or dining room), try not to make its presence difficult to use. It should not shrink the spaces or limit the comfort of circulation. Where should an interior staircase be placed? Unless the surfaces are “kilometric” (I imagine this is not your case), I suggest placing the staircase in a space at the side of the room, so as not to hinder its use.
Where Escalera is leading us
If we are communicating the ground floor with the upper floor bedrooms, the staircase should “reach” a space where these rooms converge. It is not recommended that it generates long and not very functional corridors or routes. If the strategy is to go down the amount of covered meters, this is a very important point to take into account. Circulations add up to a lot of surface area and increase costs.
Taking advantage of the space under the stairs
And speaking of surfaces, interior staircases take up a lot of space, and in many cases disable the area below them. It would not be out of place to take this aspect into account in order to take advantage of that sector with some use; from a desk to a bathroom.
Everything will be in its size and the way it will be given. It is not worth wasting an area that can be used. The use we make of it should be in accordance with the space proposed by the size of the staircase designed.
What are the Measures of an Average Staircase
Obviously the availability of space will be the main condition for the measurements of a staircase. It is not usual that we have neither space nor budget to spare. However, we must keep in mind that stairs must be comfortable.
Comfort” is an intangible measure made up of many factors: the width, the number of steps, the shape of the staircase, the slope, the material of the steps, the type of handrails, etc. Let’s look at some of these variables to design a “friendly” interior staircase for continuous use.
What is the Minimum Staircase Width for a Home
If we talk about main stairs, we must not lose sight that climbing them will be an action that we will have to carry out every day. Assigning a reduced width of stairs in a project from scratch, is to condition the comfort to use it for the rest of your days.
In the design of interior staircases you will also have to take into account the frequency of use or the premises they link to. In this sense, the criteria to establish the measures of a staircase can substantially. For example, a staircase for access to a mezzanine floor will not have the same width as another located in a public building. But we are talking about residential stairs so we better go that way.
