Code Stairs

[deertracks]

Has anyone played around with changing the 20x30, 1.5 story plans to code stairs with these specs... 3 ft. wide, 7-3/4" rise, 10" run?? Any ideas would be appreciated. We are planning dormers in the full loft so that will help with head room.

[John Raabe]

If we assume 9' between floors this is 108". To be under 7.75" we will need 14 risers (about 7.71" each). Most jurisdictions allow winders (and several folks have built them). These are actually easier to walk up than a flat landing. Here is an example layout much like the cottage stair in the plan only it pushes further into the living room area.



This is one way the stair could work. You could move treads from one side to the other. Note that you have to carve out a bigger hole in the loft floor for this stair to have the required headroom.

[deertracks]

Thanks for the suggestion John. I think we will go with your design idea, but only use 2 winders and add one more step on bottom flight. My only problem with this idea is how can you draw that in 3D Archit. v. 3?? I also have Floorplan v.8 and they don't seem to allow winders either. I guess as long as we know what we're doing the stairs don't have to be perfectly drawn on the computer plans. The problem comes with the opening into the loft as it will note be correct. Any ideas?? I know this low end software is limited and the next step up can run $500. plus your time to learn it. I have a great supply of graphic software available to me at work, but when it comes to the 3D world this software is very frustrating to me. My first attempt at the roof looked like two twin pyramids!! I was unable to work with your templates you sent me of the 20x30 1.5 story as they are so complete I couldn't add six feet to the length.

[Jimmy C.]

This is how I did my staircase.

[deertracks]

Thanks Jimmy... Do you know your run and rise?? We are using 9 ft. ceilings for the first floor so we can have beams. That probably costs us another step or two.

[Jimmy_Cason]

109-3/4" high divided by 14 risers= 7-7/8" approx.

11-1/4" tread
3ft-8"wide on the lower stairs
3ft-10-1/2" wide on the upper stairs

[jraabe]

Nice addition to the information Jimmy

That will help a lot of folks.

[cphillips]

I know this is an old thread, but I found it while searching for a solution to making the stairs in our 20x30 1 1/2 story meet code.

We like your idea here, John, but how do you achieve the minimum clearance with this plan...isn't the beam in the way? With five treads below the winder, it seems that you would not retain the 6'8" clearance.

Thanks!

Cathy & Tom

[Don_P]

Do bear in mind that winders need to be at least 6" wide at the narrow side and typically (state codes vary here) 10" wide at the 12" walkline. The heels of the Cason upper stringers should rest fully on the platform, or maybe to put it a better way, the platform should extend right until it is fully under the stringers.

[John Raabe]

That 6 year old diagram further up this thread where the treads come together at a point will not meet most codes that have adopted the latest changes.


The visual stair guide on the main website has a good diagram on page 6 that shows what Don_P is talking about.
http://www.countryplans.com/Downloads/IRC2006.pdf