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Design & Measuring
How a staircase is measured and set out, and why a professional site survey catches what a drawing cannot.
Guides in this hub
Why an online stair designer can get it wrong
An online stair designer works from what you type in and quietly assumes square walls, allowed-for plaster and floor finishes, fine headroom, and that you know the regs. Here is what it misses, and why the final order should come off a site measure.
Why a staircase that works on the plan can still fail in reality
A flat plan cannot show headroom, buildability or the real millimetres. Here are the staircase mishaps a drawing hides, from headroom and door swings to winders, the wrong stair category and newel posts, and why a site survey catches them.
How a staircase is measured: total rise, going and step count
A staircase is set out from the total rise, the finished-floor to finished-floor height, divided into an equal number of risers, then the going is set so the pitch and 2R plus G stay in range. Getting the finished floor levels right is the part that catches people out.
How much space does a staircase need?
A straight staircase for a normal storey needs roughly 2.6 to 3 metres of clear floor length for the flight, plus landing space at the top and bottom and the stairwell opening above. Where that run is not there, you turn the stair into an L or U shape, or use a spiral as a last resort. A staircase cannot be made shorter in the same footprint without becoming too steep to be legal.
Are my stairs too steep, and can you make them less steep?
Stairs feel too steep when the pitch is close to or over the 42 degree legal maximum, and they are often that way because the space forced it. The catch is that making a stair shallower needs more floor length, not less, so you cannot shallow it in the same footprint. To genuinely fix a steep stair you have to open up the space, moving a wall, door, the floor opening or joists.
Ready when you are.
Free and no obligation. The Stair Guys survey the real space, never off a plan.