Are my stairs too steep, and can you make them less steep?

When is a stair actually too steep?

For a new private staircase the limit is a pitch of 42 degrees, set by the rise and the going. Steeper than that is not compliant. That said, a lot of older stairs are steeper than today's rules and are perfectly legal, because building regulations are not retrospective: a stair built to the standards of its day stays legal even if it would not be allowed now. So "steep" and "illegal" are not the same thing. A steep stair is often just uncomfortable rather than against the rules, and it is usually steep for a reason.

Why it is steep: usually the space

Stairs rarely end up steep by choice. They end up steep because the floor space was tight, so the run was squeezed and the only way to climb the same height in less length was to make each step taller and the pitch steeper. In other words the steepness is the space talking. Which leads to the part people do not want to hear.

The bit people do not want to hear

You cannot make a staircase shallower in the same footprint. A shallower, gentler stair needs a longer run, more floor length, not less, because you are spreading the same climb over more, deeper steps. So "can you just make my stairs less steep" where the space is fixed is a physical impossibility, not a design tweak we are choosing not to do. It does not magically get shallower in a space that is too small. To genuinely reduce the pitch you have to give the stair more length, and that means opening up the space itself: moving a wall, a door, the floor opening above, or the joists. There is no way round the geometry.

So what can you actually do?

Three honest options, depending on the space.

• If there is room, or you can make room. A shallower stair, a longer straight run, or turning the stair, will reduce the pitch, but only by giving it the length it needs. That often means opening up the structure, which is a bigger job than it sounds. See how much space a staircase needs.
• If the space genuinely is not there. Then within the footprint there is little to be done about the pitch itself, and forcing it only breaks the rules. The honest answer is to accept the stair for what it is (if it is legal), or to change the type or open up the space if it matters enough.
• Make a steep stair as safe as it can be. Whatever the pitch, a good, continuous handrail (a second one on the wall side helps a lot), good grip underfoot and decent lighting make a steep stair far safer to use. See stairs and safety.

The one thing that never works is expecting a stair to become shallower in the same space. That is where "it worked on the plan" collides with the building, covered in why a staircase that works on the plan can fail in reality.