I am starting to get serious on this dual 216 degree stacked stairway project. It goes 24 foot from the basement to the 2nd floor. The stringers will be a curb style and they will be made out of mahogany.
The species has taken awhile to decide…and its due to arrive in 2 weeks.
Stan
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Looks like another awesome project. Curious though, do you run into problems with rough framing when installing. How much fudge room do you allow.
silvertip- Good question and actually quite a coincidence on this stair project. The turret is not framed perfectly...it has astigmatism. The errors are to the outside of the curve...so it will need some plaster work after I set these. I was upfront about it with the contractor and warned him it wont be nice and tight like usual. Some places will have room for my thumb...so...that in my book isnt much to plaster in....when it needs to come in anyway to the circular stairway.
I will post pictures weeks from now...and you will be able to see it wont fit perfectly at first....but in the end it will be fine.
Stan
Edited 10/10/2009 4:21 pm ET by StanFoster
Stan, is it possible to recreate the stigmatism in your shop and therefore build a set of stairs that would fit without additional plasterwork?Also, I'd love to see some of your techniques as you do them. Have you ever considered setting up a live feed on something like Justin Tv? (justin.tv). I think if I was still framing, I might consider doing a continous onsite broadcast. Check it out...there might be a way for you do spread some of your craftsmanship.
Jim- I tried allowing for astigmatism one other time...and even though I minimized it...it still took a little plaster.
I would rather make the stairs perfectly round....and force the contractor to also make his work round.
Stan
In a way, it makes sense because once you create the finished product, the astigmatism would jump out at you even if you fit the stairs to the wall. Did you check out the webcast site? I think your set up would be perfect for a live feed.
Jim- I would be the most boring thing to watch 95% of the time...then the other 5% ,,,maybe it would be worth watching.
I have several people waiting on me to go with a private forum, and I would rather save any instructing to face to face question asking...and hands on.
Stan
Oh well...I tried.
Well, heck if you have 5% of your time interesting, thats 2 hours a week, assuming you work 40 hours on average. Figure most tv shows have 24 episodes a year, you could have your own half hour tv show. You could even cut it down to 1% interesting over 50 weeks a year and still have a tv show with the interesting bits.
Stan,
The inside radius looks fairly tight. How wide is it?
Mathewson- The inside face of the curb stringer is 38.5 inches.
Stan
Stan,here is a pic of one I worked on for another local stairbuilder. I think that a tight inside radius makes for a more attractive stair.
Mathewson- That is a beautiful stairway you built. My inside radius was dictated by having to adhere to at least a minimum of 10.00 inches of run ....12 inches from the narrowest end of the tread. This stairway is in a huge home,,and I had the luxury of having 11.2 inches of run...not counting the nosing.
Years ago when they either didnt have this 10 inch rule..or didnt enforce it...I built a nice stairway with a very tight inside curb. It was a little under the 10 inch run now required... I can see and appreciate this rule being enforced. It makes the stairway much safer to ascend and descend. It is a night and day difference the feel of a stairway at say only a 9 inch run...and one that meets code with a ten inch run. This over 11 inch run is totally even more comfortable than had I decreased the inside curb down to the 10 inch minimum rule. Many times I dont have this option..but when I do....I go for comfort and safety.
Stan
Stan,I didn't get to build that one, I worked on the handrails. It wasn't the most comfortable to walk but it did look dramatic.Keith
It does look dramatic. Were the handrails all laminated? 10-12 plies? Or even more?
Stan
Stan,This stair was made by a large stair parts shop which I believe has cnc and a moulder which can do curved rails. Laminations were under 1/8". Regrettably it looks better in pictures than real life. The workmanship is fine but no attempt was made to match grain patterns or color on any of the laminations.Keith