Articles

Stair Supplies Handrails Stairs Balustrades Balusters Building Stairs Stair Design Newel Posts Circular Stairs Stair Spindles Stair Nosing Stair Manufacturers Custom Staircases Wood Staircases Stair Pictures Stair Rail Parts Contemporary Staircases Staircase Ideas Staircase Suppliers Wood Handrails Spiral Staircases Stair Parts Metal Stair Parts Cherry Stair Parts Hardwood Stair Parts Iron Stair Parts Oak Staircases Home Staircases Stair Treads Oak Stair Parts Boxed Newel Posts Wood Balusters Stair Turnings Oak Stair Treads Discount Stair Parts Creative Stair Parts Stair Part Distributors Buy Stair Parts Maple Stair Parts Hemlock Stair Parts More Resources About Stair Supplies

Stair Supplies

Custom Staircases

by Andrew Kozlov

If you plan to install a custom staircase in your house or building, you need to follow a few important measurement procedures before you get to construction. First and foremost, measure the rise of the flight of stairs. This is the distance between the bottom of the floor and the bottom of the connecting landing. Don't necessarily go by your architect's drawings here. Occasionally, planners fail to leave enough room for the stairwell or don't plan on non-traditional staircases.

The next step is to figure out where the risers are going to meet. As you probably know, the outer facing of the staircase is made up of both risers and treads. The risers are the vertical components of the stairs, and the treads are the horizontal components. Given the total rise of the staircase, you're limited as to the number and dimension of your risers.

Measuring Custom Staircases

For domestic grade staircases, building code regulations will usually recommended that risers should be no longer than 220 mm and no lower than 190 mm. If you're planning to add carpeting, you may want to compensate by tacking on an additional 10 to 20 mm here. Let's say you have a staircase that rises 2,000 mm. In order to stay within guidelines, you might choose risers to be around 200 mm each. That gives you 10 total risers.

Once you know how many risers you are going to use, you can count up the number of treads--it's simply one fewer. In this case, you need nine treads. Each riser and tread is comprised of two boards, measuring approximately two by six inches each. Your treads will be around 12 inches in width. You might read up on other code regulations before you get started customizing your staircase.

Get all Building Supplies articles via