Hello All,
We need an interior stair to get from the 2nd floor down to the bottom floor. Our best idea so far is a spiral stairway. I’m hearing lots (from BIL) that carrying laundry baskets, groceries, anything largish up and down a spiral stairway is a royal PITA. The biggest stairway we can fit is a 5’6″ unit. Where I believe the clear tread path is 2’9″. Is a stairway that small really going to be unlivable?
If we have laundry on the top floor we won’t be carrying laundry baskets up and down it. The house has two exterior stairs so getting ‘big stuff’ up and out will use those. The stairway is really just so we/guests can get to the guest bedroom and garage-workshop without going out into the rain. It won’t me used for transporting anything other than people really.
2nd-Does anyone here have any experience with the many spiral stair manf advertised in the back of FHB? Any ones to avoid? What’s it like to install one of these kits?
Thanks,
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
Replies
I have not installed one of the kits from the mag but I plan on building one sometime. I originally planned one in our current house and the plans examiner okayed it as we had an alternate stair for the floor. We decided against it in the end because of the elevations of our lot.
I used to use one with regularity at a business I used to visit. It was a great space saver but took a little getting used to. I would agree that carrying anything would be a pain in the rump though.
Good luck with the install and let us know how you like it.
Cliffy
It'll be inconvenient to carry anything larger than an airline carry-on bag, but given that you can live with only moving big stuff in good weather, I'd say go for it.
-- J.S.
ifnothing else will fit,thats what you gotta do,but i have been around one and thought it was lousy,i would actually walk outside,go down the deck stairs and in the basement door instead. i think your plan is to be here a long while,i owuld think when you hit your 50-60's a spiral would be terrible.
your going to think i'm nuts,but what about a home elavator,i'm thinking you can buy one in the 6-10 range and it's a done deal forever then.
but if you got no space ,what you going to do?larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
I'm putting one in the same size. I hope it ll be fine as the treads are only 3 inches less than a regular stairway. My stairs are going from my second floor into a finished attic.
Do you have an idea on which kit manf you are going with? The Iron Shop has the biggest adds anyways...
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
Daniel,I have a 6' spiral from the Iron Shop. You guys are welcome to come take a look. Even with 3' steps some people have difficulty managing the stairs. People tend to go towards the center and end up slipping on the smaller tread. Does a 5'6" meet code? I had a friend try to buy a noncomplying stair through the Iron Shop and they wouldn't ship it to Ca. Mike
Trust in God, but row away from the rocks.
Yeah, i've been looking at the iron shop also but as of yet I am undecided I like the York spirals but they don't make a 5 ft 6 unit which was specced by the arch and fits in the space we have.
I would stay away from the bolt-together kits from Iron Shop. You're much better off having one made by a fabricator. I had one done a few months back going from a balcony to the roof-top deck and I'm sure glad I did. Everything about it is better, heavier and stronger than those kits. Take the handrail for example, the fabricators have 1 1/2" steel tubing custom rolled and pulled and then it's welded to every picket. Every tread is fully welded to the center post. That's about 10 lineal inches of weld per tread compared to a couple set screws used in the kits.
Good luck!
Do they weld it on site? If not how would you get the already constructed unit into the house?
I agree that a welded together single unit stair would be stronger for sure.
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
A local Breaktimer RuffMike invited us over to his victorian house to try out their Iron Shop spiral staircase this past weekend. Thanks Mike!
First I gotta say you know the guys an expert drywaller 5 sec after you step into the house. The walls are all gentle curves with this interesting plaster finish.
Mike has a 6' BOCA spiral stair that the wife and I took turns walking up and down she even borrowed a laundry basket to see how that felt. Verdict is, its not too bad. As long as you stick to the outside of the stair it felt totally fine to us.
Thankgoodness we've actaully made a decision! We're going with a spiral stair yahoo! One decision made 64,000 more to go...
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
Yes, the fabricator I used has a standard size tread he uses for all spirals. He has those pressed out by another shop and keeps stock on-hand. They did a very careful layout and tacked each tread in place before proceeding. In fact, he tack up the first four treads and when I walked on them we realized he had to tweak it a little for greater head clearance. It was no big deal- just grind off the tacks.
If I remember correctly, they were on-site for three days total.
I'll post a pic. when I get my hard drive back up and running.