The interior stairway – minimum requirements and types of stairways

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The interior stairway – minimum requirements and types of stairways

The stairway is an important element of a house that has at least two levels. It is also, at the same time, a link element between the two levels, and a decorative element. This means that the choice of the stairway is not just a matter of aesthetics, but also of resistance.

A staircase must answer to the following requirements:

– To ensure the comfort of circulation. This means that, when you climb the stairway, you must consume a minimum effort to go through the level difference. On the other hand, when you are climbing on the staircase, you need to feel safe. A stairway on which you always feel like tripping is not comfortable;

– To have resistance and stability. It has to face all the pressure on which is subject to: the weight of people who climb on it, the weight of its own components, the earthquakes and tensions caused by “the settlement of the house”, tensions that arise at newly built houses.

In terms of the ramp, we have the following types of staircases:

– Staircase in one ramp. This model has the advantage of being the most comfortable to climb, but the disadvantage of being less economical.

– Staircase with two ramps;

– Staircase with three ramps;

– Staircase with four ramps. This model has the advantage of being the most economical in terms of space.

The staircase in one ramp may be straight, balanced or in a spiral shape. The spiral staircase is undoubtedly the star of the small and narrow spaces. It always makes you think of medieval castles towers.

As a basic rule, in case of the staircase of a living building, the width and the height of the steps, the width of the ramp and of the platforms must be the same on all levels of the staircase, from the ground floor to the last floor. Remember that a staircase must be wide enough to allow the transportation of the furniture, electronics and the appliances, and also for quickly evacuation of the family members in case of danger.

Materials used for staircases

We reviewed the main structural elements of the staircases, this time, we want to talk about the possibilities of selection of the materials from which we can build the stairway that we need.

In terms of resistance, the most important is the material used in the structure. This material must be chosen depending on the space or the building served by the stairway, but also the other requirements because it is possible to use prefabricated materials (brought from the factory to be installed or cast materials placed directly on the spot). From this point of view, there are three types of staircases: with reinforced concrete structure, with metal structure and stairs with wooden structure.

The concrete structure

It is a category of stairs used most often in buildings with masonry or reinforced concrete structure. These types of stairways are made directly on the site, by casting on the spot, for small and medium sized buildings. In terms of how they can be built, there are two possibilities:

– Making the staircase by simply pouring in the formwork, entirely;

– The initial realization of the ramp, followed by steps.

Because I mentioned the possibility of using the prefabricated elements in large buildings, for blocks and for other buildings of this sizeprefabricated stairs can be realized, made of reinforced concrete, meaning that they are poured separately from the site or in a profile factory and they are then brought for installation, inside the construction.

Regardless of their realization way, the concrete stairs allow a rich range of shapes and sizes and you can choose for:

– An one-piece poured ramps, directly with steps;

– Simple ramps or ramps with beams, on which the precast or cast steps are installed;

– Beamson which the stairs can be directly installed;

– Realization of the stairs in a spiral (helical), with a central pillar or with wall-recessed steps.

Thereis the possibility to use the contra steps or not, depending on the specific of that staircase. The remaining elements belonging to the staircase (banister and handrail) may be made of other materials in order to be suited to the design and to not complicate the execution. These are, for example, elements made of steel, glass, wood etc.

The metal structure

It comes from the elements of industrial design, the staircases of this type are used mainly years ago, in industrial spaces and buildings. With the development of the superior materials in terms of the aesthetics, processing possibilities and the types of assembly induced by modern technologies, the stairs with steel structure began to be used increasingly often. They have the advantage of allowing a quick execution and adaptation to available space.

The beams are made of solid metal profiles and the steps are usually without contra strep. In terms of shapes are possible the straight, curved, spiral ramps and with balanced steps ramps etc. The steps can be made of metal, wood, reinforced concrete, glass, etc. or may be finished with different other materials, depending on the way of realization of the step.

The parapets are made also on the light steel structure and different types of closures of metal, glass, wood, plastic, etc. can be added then.

The wooden structure

The staircases with wooden structure are found mainly in residential buildings, especially in single-family houses. From the construction point of view, they are made, usually on beams (profiles of solid wood, layered or laminated), with steps made of wood, metal or glass.

The ramps can be made in straight, spiral shape, with balanced steps and for special projects they can be realized even curve beams.

An important aspect of this type of stairs is related to the material processing and tothe assembling of the elements because, over time, problems may appear. We refer mainly to noise problems, such as the crunch from the moments of stepping on it. The reasons for this are related to wrong treatment of wood processing phase (for example, not dried wood), but also ofthe assembling components without adequate pieces. The essence of used wood is important for the resistance in time of the stairs to passage of many users. It is usedthe hardwood, beech or oak. These can be used to inside staircases, but also for the outer ones. The fir tree wood, being a softwood, is suitable for inside stairs, for rustic rooms. The wooden stairs requirea special attention in use, to prevent the abrasive particles reaching on the steps, because of the stepping,they may wear rapidly or even finish the material of the step. Also, a few years (for example, every 3-5 years) it should refresh the protection layer or, at least, the varnish layer.

What wood should you use for making an interior stairway?

In case of the houses with two or more levels, it is the bestifthe interior stairway is made of concrete, to have a high resistance. However, in case that you want to have a house with a rustic aspect or you build an alpine hut, the staircase can be made of wood. The wood is easy to process and it can be painted and varnished for a good resistance in time. Also, the connections and the joints are much easier to realize. Here are the types of wood that you can call for in case of such a construction.

The oak wood has a superior quality. It is a precious wood, tough and durable, and its price is even higher as it is old and dried properly. The old and natural dried oak wood is inclusively used for realizing the luxury furniture and yachts.

The beech wood is tough, highly resistant to shocks, and the paint adheres well on its surface. The texture of the beech wood is smooth and similar to the maple or birch texture. It is perhaps the most widely used in the production of the wooden staircases and the quality-price ratio is very good. In view of it has a pale color, the beech wood is the best option in case of varnishing in dark colors.

The maple wood is a wood resistant to shocks, highly durable and it withstands any type of paint. It has an average hardness, a fine texture and a light color, close to white.

The pine wood is a soft wood, especially appreciated for the rustic appearance that it gives to interiors. Its color is light. Because it is not a hardwood, the pine wood is widely used in the construction of stairs.

To realize the wooden stairs, we believe that the best wood is the hard one, the hardwood. Therefore we believe that the oak and beech woods are the great choices, the maple wood is a good choice, while the pine wood is an acceptable choice.

Plating the interior concrete staircase with wooden steps

If you have a house with ground floor and first level, and the connection between them is made of a concrete stairway, then you have to decide with what kind of material you want to plate the steps. Because the staircase gives a very different look to the house, you have to refine the stairway plating the steps with wood or marble.

The first thing you need to do is to make sure that the steps and the contra steps are equal or that there is a small margin between steps, but not more than 5 millimeters.

If you plate with wood,the moisture of the concrete steps is very important. This should not be more than 2% for avoiding the problems with the warping of the wood. If you install wooden stairs over the concrete steps with moisture greater than 2%, the wooden steps will deform and shortly they will be grouped.

In case that the oscillation of the level of the concrete steps is very high, then the only solution for them to plate with wood is to level the steps with a concrete screed to be close to the standard rate.

Plating the concrete steps with wooden stairs is made by bonding with an adhesive or with polyurethane foam. Later, to be sure that they will not warp, you can fix the wooden steps with self-threaded screws and with dowels.

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